Lineage Cell Therapeutics Announces Data From Vision Restoration Program

Lineage Cell Therapeutics (NYSE American:LCTX, TASE:LCTX) has announced its paper ‘Transplantation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Retinal Tissue in the Subretinal Space of the Cat Eye’ will be published on the September 2019 ISsue of the Stem Cells and Development Journal.

As quoted in the press release:

To develop biological approaches to restore vision, a team of Lineage Cell researchers including Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research and Development (“R&D”), Francois Binette, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Director of R&D, Igor Nasonkin, Ph.D., and Senior Scientist, Ratnesh Singh, Ph.D., developed a method of transplanting stem cell-derived retinal tissue into the subretinal space of a large-eye animal, in collaboration with Prof. Simon Petersen-Jones, DVet Med, Ph.D., DECVO, Donald R. Myers and William E. Dunlap Endowed Chair in Canine Health and Professor in the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

In this preclinical model, researchers demonstrated that human pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal tissue was successfully introduced and delivered into the subretinal space of a large eye model following a pars plana vitrectomy. Researchers optimized the immunosuppression regimen to enable the grafts to survive for several weeks. In addition, the team demonstrated tumor-free maturation of the transplanted stem cell-derived retinal tissue and establishment of graft-host axonal connectivity and graft-host synaptic connectivity. Grafts connectivity with host neural cells of the retina is an essential anatomical requirement after transplantation, which could facilitate functional vision improvement.

This work demonstrates the feasibility of successfully engrafting human pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal tissue into the subretinal space of a large-eye animal model, which closely resembles the human eye. Moreover, fundoscopy and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography imaging demonstrated no adverse effects in the large eye model due to the presence of the subretinal grafts. These results in transplanting retinal tissue in degenerating animal retina are supportive of further preclinical development focused on vision restoration.

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