Surgical Transplantation of Human RPE Stem Cell-Derived RPE Monolayers into Non-Human Primates with Immunosuppression

Overview

Journal Stem Cell Reports

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2021 Jan 15

PMID 33450191

Citations 28

Authors

Zengping Liu

Bhav Harshad Parikh

Queenie Shu Woon Tan

Daniel Soo Lin Wong

Kok Haur Ong

Weimiao Yu

Ivan Seah

Graham E Holder

Walter Hunziker

Gavin S W Tan

Veluchamy Amutha Barathi

Gopal Lingam

Boris V Stanzel

Timothy A Blenkinsop

Xinyi Su

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Recent trials of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) transplantation for the treatment of disorders such as age-related macular degeneration have been promising. However, limitations of existing strategies include the uncertain survival of RPE cells delivered by cell suspension and the inherent risk of uncontrolled cell proliferation in the vitreous cavity. Human RPE stem cell-derived RPE (hRPESC-RPE) transplantation can rescue vision in a rat model of retinal dystrophy and survive in the rabbit retina for at least 1 month. The present study placed hRPESC-RPE monolayers under the macula of a non-human primate model for 3 months. The transplant was able to recover in vivo and maintained healthy photoreceptors. Importantly, there was no evidence that subretinally transplanted monolayers underwent an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Neither gliosis in adjacent retina nor epiretinal membranes were observed. These findings suggest that hRPESC-RPE monolayers are safe and may be a useful source for RPE cell replacement therapy.

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