Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Mar 26, 2015; 7(2): 448-460
Published online Mar 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i2.448
Importance of the stem cell microenvironment for ophthalmological cell-based therapy
Peng-Xia Wan, Bo-Wen Wang, Zhi-Chong Wang
Peng-Xia Wan, Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong Province, China
Bo-Wen Wang, Zhi-Chong Wang, State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: All the authors equally contributed to this paper.
Supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program (863 Program) of China, No. 2012AA020507; Natural Sciences Foundation of China, No. 81200659 and 81270971; Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, No. S2012010009113; and Fundamental Research Funds of State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology of China, No. 2012PI05.
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: Zhi-Chong Wang, MD, PhD, State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 54 South Xianlie Road, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong Province, China. wzc001@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-20-87330379 Fax: +86-20-87330389
Received: July 27, 2014
Peer-review started: July 28, 2014
First decision: August 28, 2014
Revised: September 17, 2014
Accepted: October 28, 2014
Article in press: October 29, 2014
Published online: March 26, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Cell therapy is a promising treatment for the diseases caused by cell degeneration or death. However, the transplanted cells often develop fibrosis or are absorbed and cannot survive long. It is not simply because of seed cells, but also due to the cell microenvironment. How to reconstruct the stem cell microenvironment and strengthen its combination with the transplanted cells is the key to successful cell therapy. We will discuss the importance of the stem cell microenvironment for cell-based therapy in ocular diseases and introduce the progress of cell therapy for ocular diseases.