In a world-first breakthrough, University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease.
Sight was significantly improved within weeks of the procedure, which is simple, inexpensive and requires a minimal hospital stay.
The research team from UNSW's School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from patients' own eyes to rehabilitate the damaged cornea. The stem cells were cultured on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to re-colonise the damaged eye surface.
While the novel procedure was used to rehabilitate damaged corneas, the researchers say it offers hope to people with a range of blinding eye conditions and could have applications in other organs.
A paper detailing the breakthrough appears in the high-impact journal Transplantation this week.
The trial was conducted on three patients; two with extensive corneal damage resulting from multiple surgeries to remove ocular melanomas, and one with the genetic eye condition aniridia. Other causes of cornea damage can include chemical or thermal burns, bacterial infection and chemotherapy.
"The procedure is totally simple and cheap," said lead author of the study, UNSW's Dr Nick Di Girolamo. "Unlike other techniques, it requires no foreign human or animal products, only the patient's own serum, and is completely non-invasive.
"There's no suturing, there is no major operation: all that's involved is harvesting a minute amount - less than a millimeter - of tissue from the ocular surface," Dr Di Girolamo said.
"If you're going to be treating these sorts of diseases in third world countries all you need is the surgeon and a lab for cell culture. You don't need any fancy equipment."