Cedars-Sinai investigators working to optimize a cell-based treatment for retinitis pigmentosa have uncovered how transplanted neural stem cells interact with host retinal cells to preserve vision. The findings, published in Nature Communications , may guide future research toward strategies to treat degenerative eye disease.
"We used single-cell analysis to show that neural stem cells can protect vision in several ways, including providing protective proteins, restoring retinal cells to a healthier state, reducing cellular stress, and maintaining retinal integrity," said Clive Svendsen, PhD , executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute and co-corresponding author of the study.
Investigators transplanted neural stem cells into the retinas—the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye—of laboratory rats with retinal degeneration. Previous studies have shown the transplants significantly reduced vision loss in the animals for up to 180 days, the equivalent of about 20 years in humans. In this study the team examined interactions between the transplanted cells and diseased retinal cells to better understand the neural stem cells' protective effects.
"Our study reveals that the interaction between neural stem cells and host retinal cells dynamically changes over time," said Shaomei Wang, MD, PhD , professor of Biomedical Sciences and co-corresponding author of the study. "Through a better understanding of this process, we may be able to develop more powerful approaches to treat eye diseases in the future."
Investigators are now evaluating the use of neural stem cells engineered to express key protective proteins identified in this study to further improve the host retinal environment.
Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Saba Shahin, Shaughn Bell, Bin Lu, Hui Xu, Jason Chetsawang, Stephany Ramirez, Jorge S. Alfaro, Alexander Laperle and Soshana Svendsen.
Other authors include Somanshu Banerjee and Vivek Swarup.
Funding: This work was supported by the California Institute Regenerative Medicine (LSP1-08235). J.C. was supported by CIRM-EDUC-08383 and S.R. was supported by CIRM-EDUC2-12638, and funding from the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
