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Editors Selection IGR 15-4

Basic Science: Stem Cells

Comment by Keith Martin on:

The therapeutic potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is being investigated in many different diseases across the whole of medicine. Intravitreally delivered MSCs have previously been shown to protect against retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in rats with trabecular laser induced ocular hypertension. Intracamerally delivered MSC have also been shown to lower IOP in mice, again with trabecular laser induced IOP elevation.

In the current study, Roubeix and co-workers administered MSC intracamerally to mice with IOP elevation induced by episcleral vein cautery. They reported IOP lowering after three days in the MSC group, but not control groups which sensibly included dead MSC controls. Interestingly, they also demonstrated that the medium in which MSC were cultured contained soluble factors that could aid the survival and contractility of cultured trabecular meshwork cells. Perhaps a surprising finding was that intracamerally delivered MSC administered as late as 20 days after IOP elevation seemed to protect peripheral (not central) RGC from degeneration when assessed 25 days after injection. It would be unusual for a neuroprotective therapy to be effective so late after IOP elevation in a glaucoma model and so the authors’ suggestion that the effect could be mediated by IOP lowering appears more likely.

Despite some reservations with regard to the episcleral vein cautery model of ocular hypertension which has some potential issues with ischemia, although of course all current glaucoma models have their own flaws, this is nevertheless a valuable and interesting study which adds further support to the potential use of MSC as a possible future treatment for glaucoma.

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