The team at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad is exploring the possibility of trans-differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells into neuro-glial and retinal lineage. This is in the very initial stages of experimentation and requires a lot of work and evidence before it can be considered for human experiments.

The Institute has been treating patients with chemical burns, allergic reactions to drugs and auto-immune diseases, wherein the limbus around the cornea is damaged. The situation leads to limbal stem cell deficiency, leading to loss of corneal clarity and blindness.

Successful culturing and transplantation of the limbal epithelium has been reported from Italy, Taiwan and Japan. Based on these reports, the team at LVPEI initiated work on limbal stem cells. The process involved the harvesting of a small portion of limbal tissue from a patient's good eye or from the eye of a blood relative. This bit of the limbus is grown on pre-processed sample of human amniotic membrane, to produce a transparent, stitchable sheet of corneal epithelium in the laboratory. The epithelial tissue is transplanted back into the patient's damaged eye.

Within a few weeks of transplantation, the patient becomes asymptomatic with a stable ocular surface and visual recovery in most cases. Some patients require a second surgery of corneal transplantation for complete visual recovery.

LVPEI team has performed this procedure in more than 250 patients, since April 2001. The team also developed an innovative technique called 'composite culturing of the entire ocular surface', consisting of the central limbal cells and the peripheral conjuctival cells, separated by a self-developed ring barrier.

A major advantage of cultured limbal transplant is that it reduces the amount of limbal tissue that needs to be harvested from the donor site for treating the damaged eye.

LVPEI has the distinction of treating the largest number of patients through this procedure, at any single site, the world over. The program was initiated with financial support from Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation (HERF) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and later with NRI funding.

The initiative on stem cell research is part of the overall strategy of DBT to concentrate on developing R&D in emerging areas. DBT's strategy is to include promotion of stem cell research for therapeutic applications using adult and embryonic stem cells as well as other more readily available sources such as bone marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood cells.