Eyes: Current Research on Isolation or Production of Therapeutic Cells

A therapeutic cell is any cell, differentiated or undifferentiated, injected into the body either as a whole or part for the treatment of disease.

A therapeutic cell can be isolated from the body (autologous or allogeneic) or produced in vitro. The most important component of cellular therapy is a stem cell. The purpose of choosing stem cell therapy over other forms of treatment is to restore the normal anatomy and physiology of the tissue. Stem cells can be isolated from adult or embryonic tissue directly, and adult tissue can be induced to form cells capable of differentiating [Page 387]into virtually any cell of the body, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Therapeutic cloning can also be done for the production of stem cells where a donor ...