Human trials on the effectiveness of using adult stem cells in the fight against cornea transplant rejection could be under way within the next five years.

Corneal eye disease is the fourth most common cause of blindness in the world and affects more than 10 million people worldwide. New research from NUI Galway has found that transplant rejection rates could be reduced to as low as 10% by administering a stem cell grown from the bone marrow of adult donors.

Although 100,000 people worldwide undergo cornea transplants each year, about 30% are unsuccessful due to rejection by the patients own immune system.

An unhealthy cornea affects vision by scattering or distorting light and causing glare and blurred vision.

Corneal transplants are the most widely used treatments where the diseased or scarred cornea is replaced with healthy tissue from an organ donor.

Researchers from NUI Galways Regenerative Medicine Institute previously found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) release chemicals capable of adjusting the immune system balance in the body.

The cells can be readily obtained and grown from the bone marrow of adult donors and the finding led them to study their usefulness in combating cornea transplant rejection.

The teams lead scientist, Dr Oliver Treacy, said the model system they developed led to an increase in cells called regulatory T-cells, which dampen down inflammation, and a decrease in the number of natural killer cells, key players in the rejection process.

Consultant ophthalmologist at Galway University Hospital, Gerry Fahy, who was involved in the study, said corneal transplant rejection could result in blindness and was not uncommon in high-risk patients.

This important research presents a potentially new avenue of treatment to prevent transplant rejection and save vision in this vulnerable group of patients, said Mr Fahy.

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Stem cells could cut high rate of cornea transplant rejection