Stem Cell Treatment in Age-Related Macular Degeneration AMD

home Cell Treatment in Age-Related Macular Degeneration AMDBackgroundAge-Related Macular depravation (AMD) is a painless disease that usually affects people over the age of 60. The Macular is the part of the fundus which is responsible for the patients telephone exchange vision which allows them to see in fine detail and tooshie up in facial object recognition. The patients peripheral vision is not affected so AMD does not result in complete blindness.The diagram shows the positions of the main structures inner a linguistic rule healthy eye such as the sunspot optic nerve.The general symptoms that a patient with AMD would experience be Blurred central visiondistortionreduction in contrast sensitivityblind spots (scotomas)hallucinations (occasionally, more common in Wet AMD) (Symptoms taken from www.nhs.uk website)There are 2 types of AMD, Wet and Dry, the clinical presentations and the symptoms the patient experiences differ.Wet AMD occurs when the retinal pigment epith elium (RPE) underneath the retina at the macular area thickens and then breaks. The oxygen supply to the macula is disrupted and the body responds by abnormally growing new blood vessels through the RPE towards the macula to help increase oxygen supply, this can cause the macula to appear raised. The new vessels are fragile and poor quality so leak or bleed. This causes atrophy to the macula which results in rapid decline in central vision. Wet AMD is the approximately sight threatening of the 2 types as once the vision has be lost it cannot be regained again but there are treatments that can help slow the progression of the disease such as Anti-VEGF injections which stop/slow the growth of the new abnormal vessels. (www.nhs.uk)Dry AMD is the most common form of AMD, around 90% of cases. The clinical presentation of dry AMD is drusen appearing at or around the macula area. Drusen looks kindred white/ yellowish dots, they can be small and well defined or large and blurred margins . Drusen occurs as the eye may have a problem with disposing profligacy from the photoreceptors and so calcium and lipid deposits build up. The retinal pigment epithelium layer may thin and the drusen will push through. The drusen then causes photoreceptor death/degeneration ca utilise atrophy of the retina. This is when the patients vision will start to reduce. It is a much slower disease process than wet AMD, it can be a twosome of months before the patient experiences any symptoms relative to dry AMD. (www.AMD.org) Normal Fundus Wet AMD Dry AMD alkali CellsStem cubicles are undifferentiated cells which can differentiate into work cells such as go through, skin and bone cells. In mammals there are 2 types of bag cells this depends on the source which they are taken from these are embryos which are 4-5 days old in the blastocyst phase and in adult tissues through let on the body such as bone marrow, the brain and skeletal muscle tissue. (www.medicalnewstoday.com)The first tri al was on 2 patients who were in late stage of AMD they underwent immunosuppressive treatment to reduce a negative response to the new stem cells. The embryonic source is chosen for this treatment, the researchers used mouse skin cells to help the stem cells to differentiate into retinal cells. They are then purified so not dirty by mouse cells. These purified retinal cells are then made into a 1ml solution and injected into only one eye (this is done in trials as they dont realize if the treatment will have a damaging or successful effect on the eye). The general results from this trial were good one patient had Stargardts macular muscular dystrophy that before treatment could only see hand motions but 2 weeks after transplant was able to count fingers with only the eye that had the transplant carried out in it. Their vision continued to improve over the next 3 months. (www.nhs.uk, Bazian January 2012.)StructureAbstract/Intro-Short intro about what a stem cell and age related ma cular degeneration is.-Aim of dissertation what I want to achieve through the dissertation as a whole.-Should be roughly 1 page.Stem cells-More detail on what they are.-Different types of stem cells explain where they are found and when they would be used.-What type of AMD does this treat and why?Age-Related macular Degeneration-Background on both types (containing the anatomy of the eye, normal/abnormal)-Causes-Epidemiology-Pathogenesis-Pathology-Prevention-Treatments (current and new) authorisation of stem cell-How do the stem cells differentiate to photoreceptors RPE cells? How well does it do this?-How well does the trials transfer from animals to humans?-What is the success of these trials?Discussion-Does this look like a viable treatment for AMD?-Could it be used for either wet/dry or just one?-What are the advantages/disadvantages?-Ethical argument in using stem cells from embryos.Conclusion Perspective-What I think of the whole argument for and against the treatment-Do I t hink it is a viable and effective treatment?-Do the results from trials back up the theory and argument for stem cells? parvenu research-How have the trials been taken further?-Has any improvements or adjustments been made? E.g. Have administration methods or cell culturing methods changed?ReferencesProjected Timetable of Work30/11/16Sections 1, 2 &3 Abstract, Stem cells What is AMD.31/12/16Section 4 Potential of stem cells in the treatment of AMD.31/01/17Section 5 Discussion.28/02/17Section 6 7 Conclusion/Perspective New research.31/03/17Section 8 References. Dissertation Complete, to be proof read and bound.13/04/17Final Hand in Date.Referenceswww.amd.org/what-is-macular-degeneration/dry-amd/www.cnib.cawww.medicalnewstoday.comwww.nhs.uk/conditions/macular-degeneration/pages/introduction.aspxwww.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/embyonic-stem-cell-trial-macular-degeneration.aspx, Stem cell therapy safe for eye condition. January 24, 2012. Analysis by Bazian, edited by NHS Choices. rgw.comWebeye.ophth.uiowa.edu