Transplantation of RPE cells into the retina to treat AMD has been demonstrated in animals and is now being tested in clinical trials in humans.
However, protocols to generate RPE from human pluripotent stem cells are time consuming and relatively inefficient. Now a team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, reports in the latest issue of Stem Cells Translational Medicine that it has found a way to isolate RPE cells as early as 14 days following the onset of differentiation.
The UCSB research team was led by Dennis Clegg, Ph.D., Peter Coffey, Ph.D., and David Buchholz, Ph.D. They based their study on earlier reports that neural retinal progenitors could be generated through the application of a small number of factors.
“This report is important because stem cell derived RPE are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of age related macular degeneration and Stargardt disease,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor of Stem Cells Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
“The protocol could prove useful for rapidly generating banks of cells for treating these conditions.” The full story can be accessed at www.stemcellstm.com
