Evolution or revolution in therapy of acquired corneal limbal stem insufficiency: Holoclar® – a new medicine containing corneal epithelium stem cells
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Abstract
Treatment of corneal limbal insufficiency has entered a new stage. The cells from the culture were used in the therapy. The tissue produced in the laboratory contains stem cells of the corneal epithelium obtained from the limbal zone. With this technology, replacing the pathological tissue with the cultured epithelium gives its constant renewal, as it happens under physiological conditions. Only 2 mm2 of the corneal limbus is needed to initiate the culture, the harvested cells produce a normal multilamellar, stratified epithelium, that also contains a population of stem cells. Long-term observations confirm that this method can permanently maintain the epithelial surface of the cornea.
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Address reprint requests to: Medical Education, Marcin Kuźma (marcin.kuzma@mededu.pl)
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