LAUSR

ABSTRACT Introduction: Retinal cell transplantation is a promising approach to delay progression and reverse blindness caused by infections, genetic inheritance, or associated with aging. Areas covered: The demand for transplantable retinal cells is broad and several cell sources exist that can supply such cells. The recent development of protocols that reprogram adult cells to their pluripotent potential (induced pluripotent stem cells; iPSCs) and the possibility of differentiating iPSCs to many retinal types make these cells very attractive for cell therapeutics in the degenerating retina.iPSCs overcome ethical dilemmas in using fetal cells and with autologous transplantation of iPSC derived retinal cells, immunosuppression will no longer be needed. Importantly, gene editing of iPSCs derived from patients with genetic diseases will allow autologous transplantation of healthy differentiated retinal cells. Expert commentary: Before marketing clinically useful retinal cells, differentiated from iPSCs, a multistep clinical trial is performed. Currently, 23 trials are described in the literature and they report no adverse reactions to cell transplantation. Early visual assessment tests demonstrate small visual benefits in a proportion of participants, with future results anticipated in the near future.