We learned how to deal with cataracts in children using stem cells

Cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. It causes almost half of all cases of blindness, according to WHO estimates in the world of about 18-19 million blind because of cataracts. Physical clouding of the lens is due to the denaturation of the protein that is part of this organ. The cataract of the eye is affected not only by adults, but also by children. Moreover, in the younger generation, this disease is quite common.

There is a treatment - this is a surgical procedure with a lens replacement. The new lens is either transplanted or an artificial one is inserted. Chinese scientists have found that transplantation can be dispensed with using the existing eye stem cells to restore vision.

It turned outthat both children and adults have stem / progenitor cells in the eye that continue to divide. In some cases, these cells can be made to actively divide, with the formation of transparent three-dimensional lens-like structures. We are talking about the possibility of growing an analogue of the lens directly in the eye of the patient, without the need for transplantation.

The described method has already been tested by scientists on rabbits and young macaques. At the very beginning of the process, scientists removed the clouded lens, and stimulated the growth of the cells mentioned above. Seven weeks later, the eyes of the animals became normal, no turbidity was observed, and the animal saw without any problems.

The Chinese were able to test their method in public, with the permission of the authorities and parents of the children who participated in the experiment. In total, doctors tried to cure 12 children. Everything went well, six months after the experiment, the visual acuity of the children remains excellent. At the same time, as far as one can judge, the method has no side effects. But when using an artificial lens, they are, because in some cases the remaining cells of the lens begin to divide and grow.

The technology can also be used in the case of work with adult patients, since the regenerative abilities of the corresponding eye cells are also preserved in adults. But here everything is a little more complicated, the cataract of adults and children is different, and scientists are now working on improving their method.