Ocular Stem Cell Research from Basic Science to Clinical Application: A Report from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center Ocular Stem Cell Symposium.
Stem cells hold promise for treating a wide variety of diseases, including degenerative disorders of the eye. The eye is an ideal organ for stem cell therapy because of its relative immunological privilege, surgical accessibility, and its being a self-contained system. The eye also has many potential target diseases amenable to stem cell-based treatment, such as corneal limbal stem cell deficiency, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Among them, AMD and glaucoma are the two most common diseases, affecting over 200 million people worldwide. Recent results on the clinical trial of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in treating dry AMD and Stargardt's disease in the US, Japan, England, and China have generated great excitement and hope. This marks the beginning of the ocular stem cell therapy era. The recent Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center Ocular Stem Cell Symposium discussed the potential applications of various stem cell types in stem cell-based therapies, drug discoveries and tissue engineering for treating ocular diseases.
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. ouyhong3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Hong
H
Ouyang
Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA. Jeffrey.Goldberg@Stanford.edu.
Jeffrey L
JL
Goldberg
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. chenshy23@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Shuyi
S
Chen
Unit on Retinal Neurophysiology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. liwei2@nei.nih.gov.
Wei
W
Li
Department of Ophthalmology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. gtxu@tongji.edu.cn.
Guo-Tong
GT
Xu
Department of Ophthalmology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wei1018@xmu.edu.cn.
Wei
W
Li
Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. k5zhang@ad.ucsd.edu.
Kang
K
Zhang
Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. nussenblattr@nei.nih.gov.
Robert B
RB
Nussenblatt
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. yzliu62@yahoo.com.
Yizhi
Y
Liu
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA. tgx@stowers.org.
Ting
T
Xie
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. chanc@nei.nih.gov.|Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. chanc@nei.nih.gov.
Chi-Chao
CC
Chan
Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA. dzack@jhmi.edu.
Donald J
DJ
Zack
D000818:Animals; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation
age-related macular degeneration; eye diseases; glaucoma; limbal stem cell deficiency; regenerative medicine; stem cells