A group of researchers from Asturias and Galicia, from the Jove Hospital Foundation and the University of Santiago de Compostela, presented yesterday in Gijón the novelties of their joint work, focused on mitigating inflammatory eye diseases using stem cells from the cervix. ‘The results are very positive, as they improve in 90% of cases the current treatments for this type of pathology,’ explains Jorge Saá, an ophthalmologist at the Gijón hospital.
The study, sponsored by ONCE and the Foundation for Uterine Stem Cell Research (Ficemu), was recently published in the specialised journal “Experimental Eye Research”, and reports the data obtained during the experimental phase, in which a culture of uterine stem cells was tested in mice and rabbits. “It is an international first. There are currently not many advances in the treatment of eye diseases with these procedures,” said Francisco Vizoso, head of research at Jove.
Now, the next phase is for the Spanish Medicines Agency to give the go-ahead to begin the clinical phase. This means treatment in humans, ‘although we are aware that this is a process that could take years,’ say the researchers.
A “non-aggressive” extraction
Uveitis – as intraocular inflammation is called – is increasingly common in developed countries, with 70 cases per 100,000 inhabitants or, in other words, 15% of blindness. Its treatment, to date, has been particularly complicated. Four out of ten cases of uveitis are linked to an underlying, mainly autoimmune, disease.
Another major advantage of the new treatment lies in its ease of generating medical material, as well as the “non-aggressive” nature of the extraction. ‘The uterine stem cells are obtained by cytology, as in any regular gynaecological check-up,’ explains María Álvarez Bermúdez, from the University of Santiago de Compostela and in charge of the experimental phase. The sample is left in culture for 48 hours and the secreted liquid is used as a typical dose.
The results, according to the satisfied researchers, leave no room for doubt. ‘Uterine stem cells have an incredible anti-inflammatory potential,’ they conclude.
