Provided by Kyodo News
A Japanese research team said Friday 5th, no abnormalities such as cancer have been found 10 years after conducting the world's first transplant of retina cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.
In the clinical test conducted in September 2014 by Kobe City Eye Hospital and the state-backed Riken research institute, the cells were transplanted to a woman in her 70s who had wet age-related macular degeneration, a form of retinal degenerative disease that can lead to loss of vision.
"It was significant that we were able to demonstrate the long-term safety and effectiveness (of the transplant). The outcome bolsters iPS cell treatment as a whole," said Yasuo Kurimoto, director of the hospital, then called the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital.
The team created a protective layer of retinal pigment epithelial cells from iPS cells that was then transplanted.
The transplanted cells remained integrated in the eye tissue after 10 years and no signs of rejection or abnormal cell growth were observed, the team said at a conference in Tokyo of the Japanese Retina and Vitreous Society.
The hospital now aims to conduct transplants using strings of RPE cells created from healthy donors' iPS cells.