Cell-Based Therapies for Ocular Disease

Cell therapy for ocular disease has made significant progress within the last decade. Stem and progenitor populations for many ocular cell types have been identified, and their behavior is now understood well enough to enable clinical application. Corneal epithelial progenitor cell therapy has benefited many patients and is now transitioning from a research technique to established clinical therapy. The application of embryonic stem cell-based therapy is in clinical development for Stargardt's macular dystrophy and dry age-related macular degeneration. These advances have been made possible, in part, by the inherent advantages of the eye as a place to develop and apply cell therapies and the foundation built on transplantation studies. Despite these advances, there are still areas of high unmet need that could benefit from cell therapy when further research identifies methods to identify, generate, and manipulate the progenitor populations. This review discusses, in practical terms, the application of cell therapies to the eye, progress that has been made and progress which remains to be made in the application of cell therapy to ocular disease.