Optic nerve regeneration clinical trials

Back to Expert Advice. Expert Advice. Published on: August 20, What is the Optic Nerve? Can the Optic Nerve Regenerate? Regeneration of the optic nerve to restore vision requires a number of steps: The damaged retinal ganglion cells need to stay alive and not die. Nerve fibers that re-grow need to overcome signals that inhibit growth. Regenerating axons nerve fibers have to connect to the appropriate location in the visual targets of the brain.

Goldberg's research. About the author. Yvonne Ou, MD. Full Bio. In our study, autologous BMSCs were used and no immunosuppression was performed. To conclude, SCOTS continues to enroll and evaluate the clinical responses of patients with various retinal and optic nerve diseases. In the patient presented, optic neuropathy of uncertain etiology leading to optic atrophy resulted in long-standing and severe visual loss.

The exact mechanisms of visual improvement remain uncertain but likely involve more than simple proliferation and differentiation of the BMSCs. The type of local delivery of stem cells utilized within SCOTS may be critical to achieve such positive responses.

Autologous stem cell therapy has proven to be a safe and promising treatment approach in a number of diseases, including retinal and optic nerve conditions. Patient enrollment in monitored clinical studies such as SCOTS is an important means to evaluate autologous stem cell treatment and its role in treating eye disease. Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Neural Regen Res v. Neural Regen Res. Jeffrey N. Weiss , 1 Steven Levy , M. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Accepted Mar This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Keywords: stem cells , optic nerve , optic neuropathy , ophthalmology , bone marrow-derived stem cells , blindness , visual loss.

Introduction Optic nerve disease is complicated and there are a number of pathophysiologic mechanisms that can lead to retinal ganglion cell impairment or death. Have objective, documented damage to the retina or optic nerve that is progressive. Be 18 years of age or older. Exclusion criteria include: Patients who are not capable of an adequate ophthalmologic examination or evaluation to document the pathology.

Patients who are not capable of providing informed consent. Patients who have significant health risk. Clinical History and Course The patient is a 27 year old, right-handed female who had normal vision until June , when she developed decreased vision in each eye and pain with eye movement. Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Discussion In this case report, an idiopathic optic neuropathy resulted in significant loss of central vision of approximately 5 years of duration.

Footnotes Conflicts of Interest: None declared. New concepts on the immune modulation mediated by mesenchymal stem cells.

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Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. Mesenchymal stem cells from trabecular meshwork become photoreceptor-like cells on amniotic membrane.

Neurosci Lett. Progress of mesenchymal stem cell therapy for neural and retinal diseases. World J Stem Cells. Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells secrete brain-derived neurotrophic factor which promotes neuronal survival in vitro. Pearson, Jared Ching, James R. Tribble, Andrea G. Solano, Yunfei Yang, Fiona M. Love, Robert J. Williams, Keith R. Martin, Herbert M.

Geller, Richard Eva, James W. Protrudin functions from the endoplasmic reticulum to support axon regeneration in the adult CNS. Nature Communications , ; 11 1 DOI: ScienceDaily, 5 November University of Cambridge. Technique to regenerate optic nerve offers hope for future glaucoma treatment. Retrieved January 13, from www. Featured Content. The findings suggest a way forward for developing neuroprotective It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.

People with glaucoma, or at risk of developing glaucoma, The finding presents a new theory on why the most common