ATM vision loss | Stem Cells

One injection that can potentially slow down the ATM vision loss by 16 years

ATM vision loss affects millions of people worldwide. This medical condition usually targets older population and causes a loss of vision in the central visual field. The more serious cases can leave a person blind.

Because ATM vision loss is essentially the damage of the retina, studies have recently shown that it can be treated with stem cells injection, making the eye form a protective layer that stops retinal cells responsible for vision loss.

The study on AMD rats is proven to be successful at this stage, and resulted in 130 days prevented vision loss with only one iNPSC injection. This amount of time is equivalent to around 16 years of human life.

The next step for the study is learning more about the safety and efficacy of this treatment and proceeding towards working on investigational new drug. Also, it is yet to find out whether or not this method will be effective on patients who suffer from later stage of ATM.

Director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Clive Svendsen, shared his positive opinion stating that although additional preclinical data is needed, he believes that the institute will be able to offer personalized therapies in the form of adult stem cells treatments to their patients, for both this and other diseases, in the near future.