Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy Reports of Long-Term Safety to Treat Human Disease

The Lancet recently published new research in which the first evidence of "medium-term to long-term safety and tolerability of transplanting human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in humans has been revealed by scientists." The study was conducted on 18 patients who had severe vision loss. They received hESCs and appear to be safe 3 years post-transplant. More than half of the patients experienced restoration of some sight.

"Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any cell type in the body, but transplantation has been complicated by problems including the risk of teratoma formation and immune rejection," Professor Robert Lanza, Chief Scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology in the USA. "As a result, immunoprivileged sites (that do not produce a strong immune response) such as the eye have become the first parts of the human body to benefit from this technology."

The participants had one of two different types of eye disorders, half having Stargardt's macular dystrophy and the other half having dry atrophic age-related macular degeneration. Both of these conditions have no effective treatment and they can both lead to complete blindness. The hESCs were differentiated into retinal pigment epithelium cells and were injected in different doses. Some patients received 50,000 retinal cells, some 100,000, and some 150,000 cells. These cells were placed into the space under the retina of the eye (the area with the worse vision).

The hESC cells were accepted and tolerated for "up to 37 months after transplantation." If the patients experienced any adverse effects, after close analysis, it is safe to say that they were not caused by the hESCs. Additionally, 10 of the 18 patients claim to have had significant improvement in their vision in the eyes that received the stem cell treatment.

"Our results suggest the safety and promise of hESCs to alter progressive vision loss in people with degenerative diseases and mark an exciting step towards using [these] stem cells as a safe source of cells for the treatment of various medical disorders requiring tissue repair or replacement," co-lead author Dr. Steven Schwartz, Jules Stein Eye Institute.

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, states how this study is a "major accomplishment" but also that "much work remains to be done before hESC and induced pluripotent stem cell therapies go beyond regulatory trials, but the path is now set in motion."

I absolutely loved this article because I have always had great interest in stem cell therapy. This is a huge step forward for the practice and potential use of hESCs as common treatments for certain disorders or anything else requiring the repair or replacement of tissues. I'm very excited for what is upcoming in the medical field because of advancements such as this in the area of stem cell research and therapy.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141014211709.htm 
Related Article: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2014/10/14/embryonic-stem-cell-therapy-shows-long-term-effectiveness-safety