“I quit going to the grocery store because I couldn’t see any of the labels. I dropped out of organizations I was in. I couldn’t take a job because I couldn’t read. It definitely changed my life,” Freeman said. “It kind of shut me down.”
But within about six weeks of the procedure, Freeman started noticing changes.
An experimental therapy made from embryonic stem cells hopes to treat some forms of blindness.
“I started telling my husband, ‘You know, things seem brighter to me.’ I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but looking at landscapes seemed brighter,” she said, noting that she persuaded her husband to drop her off at a mall by herself for the first time in years.
“He was a wreck, but it was fine. I thought: ‘Oh my God. I did this on my own,’ ” she said, noting that she had also begun to read, cook for herself and use a watch.
The researchers initially weren’t sure whether her improvement was attributable to the operation or a placebo effect. They couldn’t see clear evidence of new cells in their examination, and she said vision in both eyes was better. Further testing, however, has convinced the team that Freeman’s sight is better.
After growing large numbers of stem cells, the researchers coaxed them to differentiate into nearly full-grown retinal pigmented epithelium cells. The latter do not themselves detect light, but without them, the photoreceptor cells in the retina cannot survive.
Both patients were on immunosuppressive drugs for about 12 weeks. They are now off them, and their eyes are without evidence of inflammation or tissue rejection, Lanza said.
The money for the experiment was provided by investors in Advanced Cell Technology; there were no government or foundation research grants, Lanza said.
The research team has permission to treat 12 patients with dry macular degeneration and 12 with Stargardt’s macular dystrophy. A second patient with the latter disease got a stem cell transplant in London on Friday. The team will try four different doses of stem cells — from 50,000 to as many as 200,000 cells — in groups of three patients each. The goal is to try the treatment in an early stage of the disease to prevent all vision loss.
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