CORD LINING INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL DERIVED RETINAL PIGMENT EPITHELIUM (CLIPS-RPE): NOVEL SOURCE FOR CELL THERAPY FOR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION (AMD)

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOM

Newer Approaches to Management of Retinal Degenerative Disorders: Gene Therapy and Cell Replacement Therapy

Recent Advances in Ophthalmology 15204-228Indi

A truly knotless technique for scleral fixation of intraocular lenses: Two-year results

Scleral fixated intraocular lens (SFIOL) is a safe and effective option for managing optical aphakia. Suture related complications like suture erosion, suture breakage, endophthalmitis, etc. are unique to SFIOL. The knots can be covered by partial thickness flaps or they can be rotated into scleral tissues without flaps to reduce the complications. We performed a recently described novel technique which obviates the need for knot and scleral flaps in securing the SFIOL. This novel 2-point Ab externo knotless technique may reduce the knot related problems. Twenty-three eyes undergoing this knotless SFIOL procedure were analyzed for intraoperative and postoperative complications. Twenty-two eyes either maintained or improved on their preoperative vision. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 24 months

Customized strategies for high-yield purification of retinal pigment epithelial cells differentiated from different stem cell sources

Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell dysfunction and death are characteristics of age-related macular degeneration. A promising therapeutic option is RPE cell transplantation. Development of clinical grade stem-cell derived RPE requires efficient in vitro differentiation and purification methods. Enzymatic purification of RPE relies on the relative adherence of RPE and non-RPE cells to the culture plate. However, morphology and adherence of non-RPE cells differ for different stem cell sources. In cases whereby the non-RPE adhered as strongly as RPE cells to the culture plate, enzymatic method of purification is unsuitable. Thus, we hypothesized the need to customize purification strategies for RPE derived from different stem cell sources. We systematically compared five different RPE purification methods, including manual, enzymatic, flow cytometry-based sorting or combinations thereof for parameters including cell throughput, yield, purity and functionality. Flow cytometry-based approach was suitable for RPE isolation from heterogeneous cultures with highly adherent non-RPE cells, albeit with lower yield. Although all five purification methods generated pure and functional RPE, there were significant differences in yield and processing times. Based on the high purity of the resulting RPE and relatively short processing time, we conclude that a combination of enzymatic and manual purification is ideal for clinical applications.Ministry of Education (MOE)National Research Foundation (NRF)Published versionThis study was supported by National Research Foundation (NRF), Singapore, under its Competitive Research Program (CRP) [NRF-CRP21-2018-0008] and Ministry of Education (MOE) for its MOE Academic Research Fund Tier 3 (STEM) [MOET32020-0001]

A Pilot Study on MicroRNA Profile in Tear Fluid to Predict Response to Anti-VEGF Treatments for Diabetic Macular Edema

10.3390/jcm9092920JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE9

Six-month visual prognosis in eyes with submacular hemorrhage secondary to age-related macular degeneration or polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

10.1007/s00417-012-2029-1Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology251119-25GACO

New loci and coding variants confer risk for age-related macular degeneration in East Asians

加齢黄斑変性の発症に関わるアジア人特有の遺伝子変異を発見. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2015-02-05.Updated 30 March 2015. [Corrigendum] doi:10.1038/ncomms7817Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness, but presents differently in Europeans and Asians. Here, we perform a genome-wide and exome-wide association study on 2, 119 patients with exudative AMD and 5, 691 controls, with independent replication in 4, 226 patients and 10, 289 controls, all of East Asian descent, as part of The Genetics of AMD in Asians (GAMA) Consortium. We find a strong association between CETP Asp442Gly (rs2303790), an East Asian-specific mutation, and increased risk of AMD (odds ratio (OR)=1.70, P=5.60 × 10[-22]). The AMD risk allele (442Gly), known to protect from coronary heart disease, increases HDL cholesterol levels by 0.17mmoll-1 (P=5.82 × 10[-21]) in East Asians (n=7, 102). We also identify three novel AMD loci: C6orf223 Ala231Ala (OR=0.78, P=6.19 × 10[-18]), SLC44A4 Asp47Val (OR=1.27, P=1.08 × 10[-11]) and FGD6 Gln257Arg (OR=0.87, P=2.85 × 10[-8]). Our findings suggest that some of the genetic loci conferring AMD susceptibility in East Asians are shared with Europeans, yet AMD in East Asians may also have a distinct genetic signature

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used