title: Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium Stem Cell (RPESC).
abstract: The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a pigmented cellular monolayer that supports photoreceptor cells located in the overlying neural retina. The RPE is critical for vision and its dysfunction results in numerous pathologies, several with limited available disease-altering strategies. Regeneration of the retina from RPE is robust in lower vertebrates, but is not normally exhibited in mammals. We recently found that a subpopulation of human RPE cells can be stimulated in culture to generate multipotent self-renewing cells-the RPE stem cell (RPESC). RPESC can be expanded to generate RPE progeny that are a potential source for cell replacement therapy. Alternatively, RPESC can produce mesenchymal progeny which serve as a disease model of epiretinal membrane formation. Yet another potential application of RPESCs is activation within the eye to awaken dormant endogenous repair.
authors.affiliation: Neural Stem Cell Institute, Regenerative Research Foundation, One Discovery Drive, 12144, Rensselaer, NY, USA. janmeetsaini@neuralsci.org.|Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany, 12201, Albany, NY, USA. janmeetsaini@neuralsci.org.
authors.forename: Janmeet S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.affiliation: Neural Stem Cell Institute, Regenerative Research Foundation, One Discovery Drive, 12144, Rensselaer, NY, USA. sallytemple@neuralsci.org.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Temple
authors.affiliation: Neural Stem Cell Institute, Regenerative Research Foundation, One Discovery Drive, 12144, Rensselaer, NY, USA. jeffreystern@neuralsci.org.
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Stern
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
keywords: Disease modeling; Endogenous repair; Epiretinal membrane; Regeneration; Retina; Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE); Retinal pigment epithelium stem cells (RPESC); Stem cells; Tissue specific stem cells; Transplantation