CURE COULD HELP THOUSANDS WHO LOSE THEIR SIGHT

New patch developed to treat the most common form of blindness

A POTENTIAL cure for the most common cause of blindness was unveiled by doctors yesterday.

The pioneering treatment restored sight to patients who could see only a blur. It will give hope to 100,000 Irish people with age-related macular degeneration and millions more sufferers worldwide.

The technique involves inserting a patch of stem cells into the eye to repair damage to the retina.

The vision of two patients given the treatment is still improving more than two years later. Both can read again after barely being able to see a word. It is the first time the patch approach has succeeded in humans.

AMD is the leading cause of sight loss in people aged 50 and over in Ireland.

According to AMD Ireland, more than 7,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed every year in Ireland, often at a

stage when damage has already been caused to vision.

‘This study represents real progress in regenerative medicine and opens the door on new treatment options for people with agerelated macular degeneration,’ said Pete Coffey, a University College London professor who was part of the research project.’

He added that it is hoped this will lead to an affordable off-theshelf therapy that could be made available to patients within the coming years.

There are two types of AMD – wet and dry. The two patients whose sight was restored both have the ‘wet’ form of macular degeneration in which leaky blood vessels destroy the centre of the retina. Without treatment vision progressively worsens, ending in total blindness. The researchers say their treatment could also be used for the dry form of the disease, which is caused by a buildup of deposits in the retina.

The study was a partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital, University College London’s institute of ophthalmology and the National Institute for Health Research. ‘The results suggest that this new therapeutic approach is safe and provides good visual outcomes,’ said Professor Lyndon da Cruz, a consultant eye specialist at Moorfields.

The number of macular degeneration sufferers is expected to triple in the next 25 years.

There is no treatment for the dry form of the condition, which accounts for 90% of cases.

The new study investigated whether the diseased cells at the back of the patients’ affected eyes could be replenished using a stemcell patch. A special surgical tool was used to insert the patch under the retina in the eye of each patient in an operation lasting up to two hours. The embryonic stem cells used in the treatment are taken from a human embryo.

The patients went from not being able to read at all, even with glasses, to reading 60 to 80 words a minute with normal spectacles.

Dr Carmel Toomes, a professor at Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, said: ‘These results give the many patients out there who suffer from age-related macular degeneration and other retinal degenerations real hope that stem cells replacement therapy may be a reality in the near future.’

Douglas Waters, an 86-year-old from south London, was given the treatment in October 2015.

He said yesterday: ‘It’s brilliant what the team have done and I feel so lucky to have been given my sight back.’

The study was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.