Around 100,000 people worldwide undergo a cornea transplant every year. Now researchers based in Galway have made a breakthrough which could reduce the risk of patients rejecting this type of transplant.

Corneal eye disease is the fourth most common cause of blindness globally, affecting over 10 million people. Problems with the cornea can cause glare and blurred vision.

Cornea transplantation, known as keratoplasty, is the most widely used treatment for this disease. During the procedure, scarred or diseased corneal tissue is removed and replaced with healthy tissue from an organ donor.

In 30% of these operations, the transplant fails as a result of rejection by the patient's own immune system.

However researchers at NUI Galway are using adult stem cells to fight against this type of rejection. Their work suggests that by administering a specific type of stem cell - mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs - transplant rejection rates could fall to as low as 10%.

MSCs can be obtained and grown from the bone marrow of adult donors.

"It is hoped this work will lead to much improved outcomes for the 100,000 people worldwide who undergo cornea transplant procedures each year," commented lead researcher, Dr Thomas Ritter, of NUI Galway's Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI).

The researchers were able to show that these MSCs release chemicals that are capable of adjusting the body's immune system balance.

"This led to an increase in cells called regulatory T-cells, which dampen down inflammation, and a decrease in the number of natural killer cells, key players in the rejection process," noted lead scientist, Dr Oliver Treacy.

Also commenting on the results, Mr Gerry Fahy, a consultant ophthalmologist at Galway University Hospital, who was also involved with the study, said that these findings present ‘a potentially new avenue of treatment to prevent transplant rejection and save vision in this vulnerable group of patients'.

In a follow-up study, which is already underway, the Galway researchers have teamed up with 11 collaborators in Europe to assess cornea transplant rejection in even greater detail. The final year of this five-year project, known as VISICORT, will include a clinical trial in Galway using stem cells made at NUI Galway.

Details of the findings so far are published in the American Journal of Transplantation.

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