Corneal blindness affects millions of people globally, but donor tissue for transplants is in short supply. These researchers believe that 3D bioprinting can help close that gap.
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Last year, scientists achieved a historic first by providing a patient with the first-ever corneal implant made solely of human cells grown in the lab.
Corneal transplants are used to treat severe corneal scarring and inflammation, eye injuries and complications from eye surgeries. They replace the clear dome at the front of the eye, and usually, the tissues for the procedure are collected from organ donors after death. But in this case, one donor's corneal tissue was used to create hundreds of implants through sophisticated laboratory culture techniques and 3D bioprinting.
This technology, created by Precise Bio, an Israeli regenerative medicine company also based in North Carolina, produces a transparent, layered structure that resembles a healthy, natural cornea. The approach could help to reduce the scarcity of donor corneas worldwide, the company says. An early-stage trial, known as a Phase I trial, is currently underway to evaluate the technique's safety in human patients.
To learn more about the science behind the 3D-printed corneas and the next steps for development, Live Science spoke with Precise Bio co-founders Aryeh Batt and Dr. Anthony Atala.
Dr. Anthony Atala is a co-founder of Precise Bio. He's also a professor at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He serves as president of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation.
Aryeh Batt is the CEO of Precise Bio, as well as a co-founder. He has over two decades of executive experience leading product management and development of technology products for various companies. He holds a BSc in physics and electro-optics engineering from the Jerusalem College of Technology.
Neelanjana Rai: How are most corneas for transplants sourced and prepared, currently?
Anthony Atala: They are typically recovered from deceased donors within a few hours of death and then banked. They go through screening and testing, and are then preserved until implanted — usually within a couple of weeks — before being transplanted to patients in need.
NR: Are there problems or limitations with this approach?
AA: Absolutely. In fact, availability is a major challenge. There is a very limited donor supply and a significant worldwide shortage of transplantable corneas, meaning a lot of patients lack access to corneas for implantation, which is a huge deficit.
Aryeh Batt: Today, for every cornea transplant performed worldwide, roughly 70 people remain without one because there are not enough donor corneas. There are between 12 million to 15 million people worldwide in need of a cornea transplant who do not have access to donor tissue.
AA: The ultimate goal is to completely eliminate the shortage of these corneas.
Image credit: Images courtesy of Precise Bio