A Bioengineered Cornea Shows It Can Improve People’s Sight

The volunteers were followed for two years. They found that the implants were safe to use and that the recipients' natural eyes were restored. Fourteen of the 20 people were legally blind before the operation. Three people who had been blind before the study were able to see again thanks to the use of contact lens or glasses. Their vision improved to an average of 20/26 with contacts and 20/58 with glasses.

Christopher Starr says that the results of the study are promising. He says that the visual gains were quite impressive. The participants needed less eyedrops and a shorter course of drugs than is typically needed with transplants from human donors.

There have been attempts to implant the eye. When a patient has had a failed donor transplant, artificial versions of plastic are used. The risk of infections is raised because the implants don't integrate into the patient's own eye. Starr says that biointegration has been a big challenge. Without tight biointegration of a device, there is a higher risk ofbacteria getting into the eye and causing a rare but catastrophic infections called endophthalmitis, which can lead to permanent irreversible blindness.

Immune system rejection is a risk with any type of implant. Starr says the bio engineered cornea may have a lower risk of rejection because it has been stripped of living cells.

The process of implanting a bio engineered replacement over the original one might have some limitations. Akpek is not sure if this implant will be able to treat severe cases of keratoconus. The advanced stage of keratoconus is not treated with a transparent layer on the cornea. She thinks the damaged cornea would need to be removed in order for the bio engineered implant to work.

It can be difficult to get a transplant in low-income areas if you don't have access to eye specialists. The problem of poverty is not solved by this. It has a chance of preventing blindness in more people if a bio engineered version is cheaper and more accessible.

Patients with more advanced disease will be part of the trial. They would like to test the implant in people with other types of sight loss. It's not known how long the bio engineered corneas will last. If there are no problems, donor corneas can last a long time. We want to have a permanent implant.