Gene

Cell biology

Induced pluripotent stem cell

Neuroscience

Biology

Retina

Surgery

Retinal

Ophthalmology

Transplantation

Clinical trial

Stem cell

Biochemistry

Macular edema

Embryonic stem cell

Retinal degeneration

Macular degeneration

Visual acuity

Medicine

Pathology

New England Journal of Medicine

We assessed the feasibility of transplanting a sheet of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in a patient with neovascular age-related macular degeneration. The iPSCs were generated from skin fibroblasts obtained from two patients with advanced neovascular age-related macular degeneration and were differentiated into RPE cells. The RPE cells and the iPSCs from which they were derived were subject to extensive testing. A surgery that included the removal of the neovascular membrane and transplantation of the autologous iPSC-derived RPE cell sheet under the retina was performed in one of the patients. At 1 year after surgery, the transplanted sheet remained intact, best corrected visual acuity had not improved or worsened, and cystoid macular edema was present. (Funded by Highway Program for Realization of Regenerative Medicine and others; University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry [UMIN-CTR] number, UMIN000011929 .).

Autologous Induced Stem-Cell–Derived Retinal Cells for Macular Degeneration