Cell-based Therapy for Ocular Disorders: A Promising Frontier

Abstract

: As the ocular disorders causing the long-term blindness or optical abnormalities of the ocular tissue entirely affect life quality, an insight into their corresponding pathogenesis and the expansion of attitudes authorizing earlier detection and treatment need more consideration. Though current therapeutics result in desirable outcomes, they do not offer an inclusive solution for hindrance of development of visual impairment to blindness. Accordingly, stem cells because of their particular competencies have attracted pronounced attention to be applied in regenerative medicine of ocular diseases. In the last decades, a wide spectrum of stem cells surrounding mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC), neural stem cells (NSCs), and embryonic/induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs/iPSCs) accompanied by Müller glia, ciliary epithelia-derived stem cells, and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) stem cells have been widely investigated to report their safety and efficacy in preclinical models and also human subjects. In this regard and the first interventions, RPE cell suspensions were successfully utilized to ameliorate visual defects of the patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after subretinal transplantation. Herein, we will explain the pathogenesis of ocular diseases and highlight the novel discoveries and recent findings in the context of stem cell-based therapies in these disorders, focusing on the last decade's in vivo reports.