On January 21st, the reporter learned from Southwest Hospital of Army Medical University that the team of Professor Xu Haiwei and Professor Fan Xiaotang from the School of Psychology of Army Medical University pointed out that extracellular vesicles enriched in human retinal progenitor cells based on organoid platforms can protect damaged retinal pigment epithelium, providing new ideas for the development and establishment of next-generation regenerative medical drugs and innovative treatment methods for retinal degeneration. The relevant research results were recently published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. It is reported that age-related macular degeneration, retinal pigment degeneration and other retinal degenerative diseases are important causes of visual impairment and blindness, greatly affecting the quality of life of patients. Research has shown that progressive death of photoreceptor cells or retinal pigment epithelial cells is the core pathogenic link in this type of disease, and there is currently no effective intervention method. Therefore, delaying the death of photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells is undoubtedly the key to treating retinal degenerative diseases. "After years of research, the application of stem cells has opened a new door to the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases. Currently, we have conducted multiple clinical trials to explore the safety and feasibility of stem cell therapy for retinal degenerative diseases. Stem cell transplantation has shown great potential in restoring patients' vision." Xu Haiwei said, "Developing and establishing optimized retinal stem cell products and elucidating stem cell therapy mechanisms.", It is a necessary path for clinical transformation. Therefore, the team turned their attention to stem cell products derived from organoids. "Organs are mini organ tissues cultured from stem cells, which are raw material factories for producing cellular drugs. Extracellular vesicles are small vesicles secreted by cells with a membrane structure, which can be used as new stem cell drugs. Compared with traditional stem cell transplantation treatments, extracellular vesicles can be industrially prepared, transported, stored, and have lower tumorigenicity and immunogenicity, making them unique advantages." Xu Haiwei introduced, The rise of organoid technology and cell-free therapies mediated by extracellular vesicles is expected to innovate the development of biopharmaceuticals. Therefore, they decided to combine the two major tools of organoids and extracellular vesicles to explore new models for treating retinal degenerative diseases. During the research process, the team successfully isolated human retinal progenitor extracellular vesicles based on the organoid platform and compared their biological characteristics with classical human embryonic stem cell extracellular vesicles. Researchers have revealed through 4D proteomic sequencing that human retinal progenitor cell extracellular vesicles derived from organoids have better safety and unique regulatory effects on lipid metabolism. The experimental results show that extracellular vesicles can integrate into the mitochondrial network of damaged retinal pigment epithelial cells, improve the fatty acid oxidation ability of retinal pigment epithelial cells, rescue cell damage caused by lipid overload, and have therapeutic effects on retinal degeneration diseases. Xu Haiwei stated that in the future, the team will continue to focus on the development and clinical translation research of retinal stem cell products derived from organoids. The follow-up team will further verify the safety and effectiveness of retinal stem cell extracellular vesicle therapy derived from organoids through animal experiments, so that this technology can be applied to clinical practice as soon as possible. (Lixin News Agency) (Reporter Yong Li, Correspondent Huang Qiao)
Edit：GuoGuo Responsible editor：FangZhiYou
Source：people.cn
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