More participants are wanted for testing the safety of a new retinitis pigmentosa (RP) treatment. The University of California, Irvine-led study is the first to test retinal progenitor cells to treat RP; the cells are similar to stem cells except they are specific to the retina of the eye.
Four participants who are visually disabled due to RP have received injections so far, in either Irvine or Los Angeles. Total enrollment will be 16 patients.
All will receive topical anesthesia followed by one injection of cells into the worse-seeing eye. Then they will be monitored for a year to determine safety and efficacy of the treatment.
The treatment was created by Dr. Henry Klassen and Dr. Jing Yang. It is designed to prevent vision loss by protecting the degenerating photoreceptors in the retina. It is also thought that the treatment could potentially reactivate the photoreceptors. Contact the UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic at 949-824-3990 or stemcell@uci.edu for more information or to enroll.
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