Stem cell therapy is a method to treat or prevent different diseases. This type of therapy extracts then injects injects into the patients defected cell region to regenerate and function as normal cells to perform their functions.
Stargardt’s disease treatment
Stargardt’s disease is a hereditary disease. Patients carry a mutation of the gene responsible for the processing of vitamin A in the eye. The main symptom of this disease is vision loss, and although the time that each individual’s retinal will damage, vision loss typically begins in the early years of a patients’ life (up to the first 20 years). (Walsh, 2011)
There is currently no known treatment for treating Stargardt’s disease, however the Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) company is developing a stem cell treatment for this disease. ACT wants to use stem cells to protect and regenerate the photoreceptors in the retina that are damaged by Stargardt’s disease. They are currently running on a clinical trial for this treatment.
The concept behind the stem cell therapy is to extract embryonic stem cells, which are stem cells that comes from an embryo still at the early stages of development to help regenerate Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells (RPE), the cells which are damaged by Stargardt’s disease.
To perform the procedure, scientists extract embryonic cells from the inner cell mass of the embryo and develops the RPE cells. Once enough of the RPE cells have regenerated, a surgeon temporarily removes a patient’s retina, then injects 150 micrometers of RPE cells underneath. The RPE cells then help the retina’s protein and regenerate photoreceptors, the cells that sense light and passes this information to the brain. (Haddrill, 2014)
Stem cell therapy is a method to treat or prevent different diseases. This type of therapy extracts then injects injects into the patients defected cell region to regenerate and function as normal cells to perform their functions.
Stargardt’s disease...