Guest edited by Rajashekhar Gangaraju, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA
Adult stem cells found throughout the body are now known to replenish dying cells and regenerate damaged tissues. A variety of adult stem cells, including but not limited to hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), especially those derived from adipose tissue and bone marrow, and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), have been explored as a possible treatment for retinal diseases with excellent efficacy in preclinical models. Recent advances in generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from somatic cells have opened up a new avenue of possibilities, including the generation of retinal organoids that likely provide a platform to better understand the disease mechanism with an added advantage to provide preclinical testing of new treatments. Although some early clinical trials have been successful with MSC, the growing popularity of stem-cell clinics in the USA muddied the waters with controversial outcomes of these therapeutics, raising concerns among the public. This thematic series aims to highlight the pros and cons of adult stem cell therapies as related to visual disorders and describe the state of the art.
We invite authors to submit reviews/original articles describing the outcomes of adult stem cell therapies in preclinical models and clinical trials to treat retinal diseases for a safe and effective outcome.
Submission guidelines
Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have carefully read our submission guidelines for Stem Cell Research & Therapy.
All manuscripts should be submitted to the online manuscript tracking system. Please select the thematic series in the system during submission.
Read the published articles here.