Research Alert
Highlights
Regenerative medicine for retinal degeneration in the outer layer of the retina has entered the practical stage given recent progress in that field utilizing advantageous aspects of the retina as a target of regenerative medicine.
Next-generation therapies for expanding indications are progressing since the safety and efficacy of embryonic stem cell (ESC)/induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) transplantation have been confirmed to a certain extent in clinical studies globally for age-related macular degenerations.
The development of next-generation therapies using retinal sheet derived from iPSCs for expanding indications is progressing. However, several issues in the popularization of retinal regenerative medicine due to the complex characteristics of the retina and cell products remain. Therefore, the application of an alternative strategy of regenerative medicine, such as induction of autologous retinal cells from somatic cells via a direct reprogramming system, may also be useful in the future.
RSS