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World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2015; 7(1): 160-164
Published online Jan 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i1.160
Stem cell therapy for retinal diseases
José Mauricio Garcia, Luisa Mendonça, Rodrigo Brant, Murilo Abud, Caio Regatieri, Bruno Diniz
José Mauricio Garcia, Luisa Mendonça, Murilo Abud, Bruno Diniz, Department of Ophthalmology, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74001-970, Brazil
Rodrigo Brant, Caio Regatieri, Bruno Diniz, Department of Ophthalmology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Bruno Diniz, MD, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Al. Ricardo Paranhos, 799, Goiânia 74001-970, Brazil. dinizb@me.com
Telephone: +55-62-35211000
Received: July 29, 2014
Peer-review started: July 29, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: September 26, 2014
Accepted: October 14, 2014
Article in press: December 16, 2014
Published online: January 26, 2015
Abstract

In this review, we discuss about current knowledge about stem cell (SC) therapy in the treatment of retinal degeneration. Both human embryonic stem cell and induced pluripotent stem cell has been growth in culture for a long time, and started to be explored in the treatment of blinding conditions. The Food and Drug Administration, recently, has granted clinical trials using SC retinal therapy to treat complex disorders, as Stargardt’s dystrophy, and patients with geographic atrophy, providing good outcomes. This study’s intent is to overview the critical regeneration of the subretinal anatomy through retinal pigment epithelium transplantation, with the goal of reestablish important pathways from the retina to the occipital cortex of the brain, as well as the differentiation from pluripotent quiescent SC to adult retina, and its relationship with a primary retinal injury, different techniques of transplantation, management of immune rejection and tumorigenicity, its potential application in improving patients’ vision, and, finally, approaching future directions and challenges for the treatment of several conditions.

Keywords: Macular degeneration; Human embryonic stem cell; Induced pluripotent stem cell; Retinal pigment epithelium; Stargardt’s disease

Core tip: The stem cell (SC) retinal therapy has turned into an potentially useful way of treating blinding disorders, such as, Stargadt’s dystrophy, and geographic atrophy. The Food and Drug Administration’s approval for clinical trials using SC retinal therapy, and its good results, may appoint to future promising outcomes, providing an anatomical restoration of the retina, and a functional improval of visual function of several patients.