Retinal tissue transplantation and retinal progenitor cells: A therapeutic promise for patients with retinal disease

Abstract

Worldwide, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa have the highest incidence rate among retinal diseases. Despite the lack of enough trials demonstrating positive functional results on eyesight recovery, the use of stem cells, retinal progenitor cells, and fetal retinal tissue transplantation seem very promising. So far positive results on the functionality of the transplanted cells have not been obtained. However, the safety and reliability of the procedure to transfer retinal tissue have been demonstrated. Transplantation of retinal progenitor cells has not been tried on human beings, but there have been satisfactory 1 Médica general, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. Residente de primer año de Oftalmología, Universidad CES, Medellín, Colombia.