The experiment was carried out on a group of 18 volunteers, 10 of them reported regaining limited vision

Oct 15, 2014 20:03 GMT  ·  By

In a paper published in the journal The Lancet this past October 14, scientists detail the use of embryonic stem cells to treat blindness in a group of human patients. The experiment was carried out on just 18 volunteers and proved fairly successful.

Thus, it is understood that, having been treated with embryonic stem cells, as many as 10 of the folks who agreed to take part in this research project reported regaining limited vision.

It's important to note that, since the experimental treatment was tested on merely 18 individuals, stem cells are far from being hailed as the cure for blindness. Still, this experiment brings new hope to people who are visually impaired.

Using stem cells to treat blindness

NPR tells us that, as part of this investigation, scientists first collected several embryonic stem cells. They then placed them in laboratory dishes and compelled them to turn into retinal pigment epithelium cells which they later transplanted into the patients' eyes.

As detailed in the journal The Lancet, the volunteers that these researchers worked with were diagnosed either with age-related macular degeneration or Stargardt's macular dystrophy. This means that they were either without or in the process of losing their central vision.

By replacing the damaged tissues in these people's eyes with laboratory-grown retinal pigment epithelium cells, the scientists managed to partly restore vision in 10 of them. On the downside, 7 volunteers experienced no improvement and a person's condition even got worse.

Still, the researchers argue that their results are encouraging to say the least. More so given the fact that, by the looks of it, this was the first US Food and Drug Administration-approved embryonic stem cell trial to have until now yielded any kind of results.

“It really does show for the very first time that patients can, in fact, benefit from the therapy,” Dr. Anthony Atala with the Wake Forest University said in a statement. “These are patients that didn't see better for 30 years and all of a sudden they're seeing better. It's amazing,” added specialist Steven Schwartz.

The trouble with this experiment

The scientists behind this research project explain that, although evidence at hand indicates that human embryonic stem cells have the potential to treat not just blindness but many other diseases such as paralysis and Alzheimer's as well, there is one small problem with such experiments.

Long story short, there are many who claim that, since collecting such stem cells means that several human embryos have to be destroyed, this treatment option is anything but moral. Otherwise put, they say that experimenting with embryonic stem cells is synonymous to killing people.

“The problem we have with embryonic stem cells is simply the fact that you have to destroy a young human being to get embryonic stem cells,” David Prentice with advocacy group Family Research Council said in a statement. Furthermore, “We would reject the idea that any human being be destroyed for experimental purposes.”

On the other side of the fence, scientists argue that they are just trying to cure diseases, and that, since embryos aren't human beings through and through, there is nothing immoral about collecting stem cells from them.