Japanese scientists transplant human cornea from reprogrammed stem cells

The world's first human cornea transplant has been performed in Japan, which was grown from induced pluripotent stem cells, and was not borrowed from a deceased donor, Nature reported.

Ophthalmologist Kohji Nishida from Osaka University, Japan, said the woman has a disease in which the stem cells that repair the cornea, a transparent layer that covers and protects the eye, are lost. The condition makes vision blurry and can lead to blindness.

The use of donor material is accompanied by a number of specific difficulties, due to which only in Japan there are more than one and a half thousand people who are waiting for transplant surgery. Using cornea grown from stem cells can solve the waiting problem.

The first person who received a cornea transplant obtained from the descendants of induced pluripotent stem cells was a 40-year-old Japanese woman. The woman suffered from a disease called reticular dysgenesis of the corneal epithelium in the form of impaired corneal transparency. After surgery, the patient’s vision improved significantly.