World-first stem-cell treatment restores vision in people

The treatment, given to four people with damaged corneas, seems safe but needs to be tested in larger trials.

Originally published by Smriti Mallapaty at Nature, on 8 November 2024

The transparent cornea is the outermost layer of the eye. Credit: Patrick Landmann/SPL

Three people with severely impaired vision who received stem-cell transplants have experienced substantial improvements in their sight that have persisted for more than a year. A fourth person with severely impaired vision also experienced gains in their sight, but they did not last. The four are the first to receive transplants made from reprogrammed stem cells to treat damaged corneas, the transparent outer surface of the eye1.

The results, described in The Lancet today, are impressive, says Kapil Bharti, a translational stem-cell researcher at the US National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. “This is an exciting development.”

“The results merit treating more patients,” says stem-cell researcher Jeanne Loring at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.

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