Embryonic Stem Cells Versus AMD

Regenerative strategies for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are proceeding apace: "Around 25 per cent of over-60s in the UK have some degree of visual loss due to AMD, and some 14 million people in Europe currently suffer blindness through the condition, caused by defects in the retinal support cells. There is currently no treatment that prevents the treatment of dry AMD. There has been some success in controlling new blood vessel formation in wet AMD, but these approaches are only suitable for certain patients and are often only temporary. ... The London Project's approach will involve production of a cell replacement therapy from human embryonic stem cells, which are effective in replacing dysfunctional [retinal pigment epithelial cells] and photoreceptors found in AMD, leading to a surgical therapy capable of stabilising and restoring vision in the vast majority of patients. Surgical procedures already developed and trialled in a number of patients using the patients' own cells have illustrated that a cell replacement therapy can work."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/ucl-uss060507.php

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