Man with AMD treated with donated stem cells in world first

The procedure involved reprogramming skin cells taken from an anonymous donor into iPS cells. They were then converted into a type of retinal cell and transplanted into the patient’s eye.The procedure, conducted by Dr Yasuo Kurimoto and his team at the Kobe City Medical Center could pave the way for using iPS cell treatments for vision-related probls.{{quote-A:R-W:450-I:2-Q: Donated iPS cells should be a close enough match for many st cell applications, -WHO:Shinya Yamanaka, Nobel Prize-winner iPS St Cell Scientist}}The medical team is hopeful the st cell transplant will stop the progression of the disease in the patient, who will be observed closely over the next 12 months.A similar procedure by the same medical team was performed on a Japanese woman in 2014 with iPS cells derived from her skin cells. Results taken a year later showed the patient’s disease had not progressed as it would have without any treatment, and it’s reported that she continues to do well.However, cells prepared in the same way for a second patient were found to contain genetic abnormalities, and were never implanted. Instead, the scientists reprogrammed the study to rely on donors as cells from AMD patients, who tend to be elderly, might have also accumulated genetic defects that could increase the risk of the procedure.Other advantages of using donated iPS cells are that it has been found to be more affordable and time-efficient than using the patient’s own iPS cells.Nobel Prize-winner iPS st cell scientist Shinya Yamanaka believes that donated iPS cells should be a close enough match for many st cell applications, despite the heightened risk of immune rejection due to the different genetic codes.Yamanaka plans to establish the first iPS cell bank, which he hopes could match donors to recipients using three gene codes for human leukocyte antigens (HLA) proteins.A further four patients have been recruited to take part in the study.