At present, the only FDA approved method of treating glaucoma is to lower eye pressure; this slows the progression of glaucomatous optic nerve damage but does not completely halt it, and certainly does not regenerate damaged nerve tissue.
There is great interest among glaucoma patients, scientists and doctors alike, in discovering regenerative therapies for the optic nerve and translating them from the laboratory to the clinic — and stem cell therapy is one of several promising approaches being studied.
This from Dr Jeffrey Goldberg:
Q: Dr. Goldberg, how might stem cells be helpful for patients with glaucoma?
A: Stem cells may be helpful for patients with glaucoma in different ways. Stem cells can be turned into trabecular meshwork cells in the front of the eye and transplanted in such a way as to lower eye pressure. This is an interesting approach but is not fundamentally about vision restoration.
For protecting or restoring vision, we really need to talk about stem cells in the back of the eye, at the retina. There, stem cells may have two positive effects. First, early in the disease, they may protect retinal ganglion cells from degenerating — providing a neuroprotective effect. Later in the disease when patients have lost considerable numbers of retinal ganglion cells and optic nerve axons, and have thereby lost considerable vision, stem cells may be useful to replace lost ganglion cells and restore the connections from the eye to the brain. This last approach—regrowing optic nerve fibers back to the brain—has been the most challenging but it’s also the most exciting. MORE: