StemCell Therapy

Bryan Christie

Injected anti-VEGF agents can help reverse eye damage and stabilize vision.

Wet macular degeneration occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina, often leaking fluid or blood into the macula and damaging central vision. Although far less common than the dry form, in which deposits destroy the macula, wet AMD is much more destructive, leading to more rapid and profound vision loss. Fortunately, a new class of drugs called anti-VEGF agents, now widely available, can halt and sometimes even reverse the damage. Injected into the eye, the medications block VEGF proteins, which normally help blood vessels form. "Before anti-VEGF agents, we had nothing to stop wet macular degeneration," says Jeffrey Heier, M.D., chair of research and therapeutics for the American Society of Retina Specialists and director of the Vitreoretinal Service at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston. "Now, in a majority of patients, we can stabilize vision and, in some patients, even restore some vision."

The shots have one big drawback: They have to be administered as often as monthly. To eliminate repeated injections, researchers are developing innovative ways to deliver medication to the eye. One approach under investigation is to implant a small reservoir that steadily releases medication over time, says Heier. Another, more dramatic possibility: using gene therapy to reprogram cells in the eye to produce their own anti-VEGF agents.

The holy grail of research to treat macular degeneration, though, is finding ways to regenerate healthy cells to replace those damaged by disease. That may not be far off. In 2014, a team at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, reported early success growing retinal cells in the lab and injecting them into the eyes of patients with several different forms of AMD. The scientists began with pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to become any cell. "Over a period of months, the cells are coaxed into becoming retinal pigment epithelial cells, which support the photoreceptor cells in the retina," explains Eddy Anglade, M.D., chief medical officer for Ocata Therapeutics, the Massachusetts-based company that is developing the procedure. Early results show significant improvements in vision in some patients, and clinical trials are under way to refine the procedure.

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Treating Blindness and Vision Loss - Restoring Eyesight

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