Lens regeneration in situ using hESCs-derived cells -similar to natural lens

Xinyi Chen; Hanle Wang; Hui Chen; Ling Ren; Wei Wang; Jingjie Xu; Chenqi Luo; Peike Hu; Qiuli Fu; Ke Yao

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106921

Lens regeneration in situ using hESCs-derived cells -similar to natural lens

iScience. 2023 May 19;26(6):106921. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106921. eCollection 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

Xinyi Chen¹, Hanle Wang¹, Hui Chen^{1

2}, Ling Ren¹, Wei Wang¹, Jingjie Xu¹, Chenqi Luo¹, Peike Hu¹, Qiuli Fu¹, Ke Yao¹

Affiliations

¹ Eye Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou 310009, China.
² Eye Hospital and School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.

Abstract

Lens itself has limited regeneration functionality, thus we aimed to create regenerated lens with biological function to treat cataracts rather than the intraocular lens used in cataract surgery. We induced exogenous human embryonic stem cells to directionally differentiate into lens fate like cells in vitro, mixed these cells with hyaluronate, and then implanted the mixture into lens capsule to regenerate in vivo. We successfully achieved near-complete lens regeneration, and the thickness of the regenerated lens reached 85% of the contralateral eye, showing the characteristics of biconvex shape, transparency, and a thickness and diopter close to that of natural lenses. Meanwhile, the participation of Wnt/PCP pathway in lens regeneration was verified. The regenerated lens in this study was the most transparent, thickest, and most similar to the original natural lens that has thus far been reported. Overall, these findings offer a new therapeutic strategy for cataracts and other lens diseases.

Keywords: Ocular surface; Specialized functions of cells; Stem cells research; Tissue engineering.