Approximately three million Americans live with glaucoma, a disease that damages the optic nerve connecting the retina of the eye to the brain, causing progressive vision loss and blindness. In order to devise more effective long-term treatments for this disabling disease, The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, recently announced its $6.7 million funding of a five-year study to explore stem cell therapy as a glaucoma treatment strategy. 

What They’ll Do

The research team, which includes scientists from Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute, Indiana University, Legacy Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, and The Jackson Laboratory, will investigate how well and how long human stem cells that have been made into retinal ganglion cells (cable-like cells that connect the retina of the eye to the brain) work after being transplanted into an animal model of glaucoma.

The team will evaluate whether the lab-transplanted cells:

• Respond appropriately to light 
• Are successfully transplanted 
• Form the eye-retina connections that are necessary for vision

What They Hope to Achieve

Many variables are involved in a successful treatment using this method. The transplanted cells must avoid rejection by the immune system, and the proper connections need to be formed both within the eye and between the eye and the brain. Special attention will be given to helping the stem cell-derived nerve cells survive and integrate favorably. 

To enhance RGC transplant survival and integration, they will: 

• Modify the immune interactions of donor and host tissue
• Modify the cellular age of the host retina
• Enhance neural connectivity of donor ganglion cells into host retinal circuitry

What It Could Mean

There is no cure for glaucoma, and the vision loss it causes can not currently be restored. Right now, the disease progression can only be slowed with early treatments involving medicated eye drops or time-release implants, laser therapy, or surgery. Researchers hope that by improving the effectiveness and long-term survival of transplanted retinal ganglion cells, stem cell therapy can stabilize or even reverse the effects of glaucoma.

*White, F. (2021, Oct. 12). Study to Investigate Stem Cell Therapy as Potential Glaucoma Treatment. OHSU News. https://news.ohsu.edu/2021/10/13/study-to-investigate-stem-cell-therapy-as-potential-glaucoma-treatment