RESEARCHERS have come up with a potential cure for a type of dry eye disorder.
The eye’s lacrimal gland produces moisture needed to heal eye injuries and clear out harmful dust, bacteria and other invaders.
If the lacrimal gland is injured or damaged by aging, pollution or even certain pharmaceutical drugs, a person can experience a debilitating condition called aqueous deficiency dry eye (ADDE) - sometimes called “painful blindness.”
If injured, a healthy lacrimal gland naturally regenerates itself in about seven days. When diseased and chronically inflamed, however, regeneration stops—and scientists are not sure why.
Now a new study in animal models, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, suggests that lacrimal glands can be repaired by injecting a kind of regenerative “progenitor” cell.
“This is the first step in developing future therapies for the lacrimal gland,” said TSRI biologist Helen Makarenkova, who led the study.
In the new study, Makarenkova and her colleagues looked at whether they could kick start regeneration by injecting progenitor cells into the lobes that make up the lacrimal gland. Progenitor cells are similar to stem cells in their ability to differentiate into different kinds of tissue. In this study, the researchers used progenitor cells that were poised to become epithelial tissue, a key component of the lacrimal gland.
The treated mice showed a significant increase in tear production, indicating—for the first time—that epithelial cell progenitors could repair the lacrimal gland.
The next step in this research will be to study how long the improvement in the lacrimal gland lasts after progenitor cell injections.
Makarenkova said the eventual goal is to develop therapies to boost a patient’s own regenerative abilities.
The findings were published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
