A major accomplishment has been made in
replacement organ regrowth as scientist report that they successfully regrew
human corneas from a very rare kind of adult stem cell harvested from deceased
donors.
by John
Tyburski
Copyright © Daily
Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Things are
looking up for some forms of blindness. According to a report published
in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, the first functional
tissue created from adult stem cells has been created.
Harvard
University researchers used a molecular marker probe to find a specific kind of
adult stem cells called limbal cells in tissues collected from deceased donors.
They used antibodies generated against a specific protein found on limbal cells
called ABCB5. When present, ABCB5-positive limbal cells bind up the antibody
and allow the scientists to selectively collect them out from a mixed
population of cells. Then the cells were used to grow new human corneas in
mice.
The limbal
cells reside within a deep layer of the human cornea and produce new cells to
replace older, deteriorating cells in intact, healthy corneas. Injury to a
cornea that destroys the limbus layer that contains these cells results in
blindness because the cornea cannot be renewed.
“Limbal stem
cells are very rare, and successful transplants are dependent on these rare
cells,” said Bruce Ksander, co-lead author on the report, in a statement.
“This finding will now make it much easier to restore the corneal surface. It’s
a very good example of basic research moving quickly to a translational application.”
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