A cornea bioengineered and developed from pig skin collagen proteins to allow you to see again. It is the pilot study of the University of Linköping (LiU) and of the company LinkoCare Life Sciences AB which recruited 20 people who did not see before the surgery, opening hope for those suffering from corneal blindness or low vision and providing an alternative to transplant of human cornea given that in many countries donors are scarce. The study was published in ‘Nature Biotechnology’. Worldwide, 12.7 million people are not selling due to a damaged or diseased cornea problem, but only one in 70 patients receives a cornea transplant.
The corneal tissue of the 20 participants in the pilot study “healed quickly and an 8-week treatment with immunosuppressive eye drops was sufficient to prevent implant rejection. Patients were followed up for two years and no complications were noted during that time. “, reports the research.
“The results show that it is possible to develop a biomaterial that meets all the criteria to be used as a human implant, which can be mass-produced and stored for up to two years and thus reach even more people with vision problems. This could allow us to circumvent the problem of shortage of donor corneal tissue and access to other treatments for eye diseases, ”said Neil Lagali, from the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at LiU, one of the study’s curators.
“The safety and effectiveness of bioengineered plants has been the focus of our work,” explained Mehrdad Rafat, researcher and entrepreneur behind the design and development of the plants. In the process of building the bionic cornea, the researchers “stabilized the collagen molecules to form a strong, transparent material that can resist manipulation and implantation in the eye,” the study points out. Although donated corneas must be used within two weeks, bioengineered corneas can be stored for up to two years before use. The implants have been used by surgeons in Iran and India.
“However, a larger clinical trial will be needed followed by market approval by regulatory authorities before the implant can be used in healthcare,” the study concludes.