Stem cell treatment improves sight in first trial for previously untreatable rare eye condition

A first-in-human stem cell treatment has improved vision for patients living with a rare inherited eye condition previously considered untreatable.

Researchers at UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital developed the treatment for aniridia-related keratopathy, a progressive condition in which a deficiency of limbal stem cells can cause tissue to grow across the cornea and gradually damage sight.

The team developed a collagen scaffold as part of the new approach, with findings from the clinical trial published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

The condition is rare, but the trial is significant because it moves a potential regenerative treatment into people for the first time and produced measurable improvements in vision.