Transplantation of Tissue Cultured Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells Onto Damaged Ocular Surfaces

Ocular surface diseases and injury caused by chemicals, result in chronic ulceration, and may never be able to be healed normally, and may lead to permanent vision loss. Standard medical treatments often fail. Histologically and somehow functionally, human amniotic cells are similar to ocular surface cells, and these cells have been shown to be safe to be transplanted to another subject and will not be rejected by the recipient. In animal studies, amniotic cells demonstrated that they can re-establish the integrity of ocular surface in more than 30% of recipients without apparent toxic side effects. This study will investigate this novel strategy for its effect on human ocular surface disorder. It will provide a potential alternative therapy for this difficult and devastating disease.