Ray of hope to treat corneal blindness

Hyderabad: An ongoing study by researchers from multiple scientific institutions in Hyderabad holds promise for millions of patients suffering from corneal blindness and even has the potential to resolve the perennial shortage of corneas needed for transplantation. In the ground-breaking research, scientists from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) […]

Hyderabad: An ongoing study by researchers from multiple scientific institutions in Hyderabad holds promise for millions of patients suffering from corneal blindness and even has the potential to resolve the perennial shortage of corneas needed for transplantation.

In the ground-breaking research, scientists from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) and IIT-Hyderabad have developed a unique biomimetic corneal hydrogel, made up of discarded human corneas, which can be used to treat corneal scarring, a major cause of corneal blindness.

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At present, the technology developed by city researchers has achieved success in animal models and has recently received funding worth Rs 3 crore for further safety and efficacy trials on patients.

The biomimetic corneal hydrogel technology is cutting-edge but at the same time could be a simple alternative to corneal transplantation, researchers said. “The use of biological material derived from discarded human cornea as injectable hydrogel is a novel, innovative, cost-effective and easily implementable solution to a problem that affects millions world-wide. This project provides hope to not only all patients with corneal blindness, it also specifically targets a large proportion of patients who otherwise carry poor prognosis for corneal transplantation,” the committee from Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grant 2021, that green lighted the funding, said.

In India alone, based on National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey-2019 of MOHFW, there are 68 lakh people who suffer from corneal blindness in at least one eye out of which 10 lakh are blind in both their eyes.

Loss of corneal clarity or transparency is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment that affects millions worldwide. While the medical condition is irreversible, corneal transplantation has become a standard of care for patients with severe disease and vision loss. However, corneal transplantation has limitations because the grafts do not have long-term survival rate and moreover, patients are put on oral immunosuppressive medications and life-long clinical follow-up.

The CCMB, LVPEI and IIT-Delhi researchers have already applied for patent for their technology, which is at present pending.

With advancements in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, many possible alternative approaches to corneal transplantation have emerged in the recent past. These include biomimetic hydrogels, stem cells and gene/molecular therapy. Of these, biomimetic hydrogels have shown the greatest promise. We have developed the unique biomimetic corneal hydrogel to treat corneal blindness, researchers said.

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