{"id":1043125,"date":"2011-07-17T15:58:37","date_gmt":"2011-07-17T15:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longevitymedicine.tv\/a-stem-cell-trial-for-macular-degeneration\/"},"modified":"2024-08-17T17:02:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T21:02:17","slug":"a-stem-cell-trial-for-macular-degeneration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/longevity-medicine\/a-stem-cell-trial-for-macular-degeneration.php","title":{"rendered":"A Stem Cell Trial for Macular Degeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/biomedicine\/38030\" \/>Technology Review<\/a>: \"In a bid to harness the potential of embryonic stem cells, surgeons in California have implanted lab-grown <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Retina\">retinal cells<\/a> into the eyes of two patients going blind from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Macular_degeneration\">macular degeneration<\/a>. ... The two patients, whose names weren't released, are among the first volunteers ever to receive a treatment created using <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Embryonic_stem_cell\">embryonic stem cells<\/a>.  ... We are excited about this treatment, because we think this has the potential to slow the disease progression. This company has had their ups and downs, and I am really happy to see they got into the clinic. We've had our fingers crossed. ... During a recent visit to <a href=\"http:\/\/advancedcell.com\" \/>Advanced Cell's<\/a> laboratories, a research technician adjusted a microscope to show off the company's lead product: cube-shaped <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Retinal_pigment_epithelium\">retinal pigment epithelial cells<\/a> growing in a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Petri_dish\">petri dish<\/a>. Some were translucent, while others already had the brownish coloring of a mature cell. (The pigment absorbs stray light in the eye, acting as a kind of glare shield.) These retinal cells are the type that are killed off in macular degeneration, eventually leading to the death of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Photoreceptor_cell\">photoreceptors<\/a>, and the gradual loss of central vision. Advanced Cell believes that injecting new, lab-grown cells into the eye may cure the condition. ... It's no accident [that] both early studies of embryonic stem-cell therapies - those of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geron.com\" \/>Geron<\/a> and Advanced Cell - involved cells of the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nervous_system\">nervous system<\/a>. The reason is that embryonic stem cells naturally want to make <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neuroectoderm\">neuroectoderm<\/a>, a cell lineage in the embryo that forms the nervous system. ... Embryonic stem cells have a mind of their own, and they want to do certain things ... Efforts to produce other cell types, such as liver cells, have proved far more difficult.\"<\/p>\n<p><span>Link: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/biomedicine\/38030\/\">http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/biomedicine\/38030\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Technology Review: \"In a bid to harness the potential of embryonic stem cells, surgeons in California have implanted lab-grown retinal cells into the eyes of two patients going blind from macular degeneration. ... The two patients, whose names &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/longevity-medicine\/a-stem-cell-trial-for-macular-degeneration.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1246678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-longevity-medicine"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}