20 volunteers had their vision restored thanks to a cornea implant made out of collagen that was gathered from pig skin.

It was a landmark pilot study which still needs further testing, but scientists are hopeful that the novel bioengineered implant can improve the vision of people waiting for costly cornea transplant surgeries.

Over one million people are diagnosed blind yearly because of damaged or diseased corneas. Vision deteriorates when this thin outer layer of tissue surrounding the eye degenerates.

Anyone suffering corneal blindness can receive a corneal transplant from a human donor and have their vision restored.

But lack of cornea donors means that only one in 70 will receive a transplant. The surgical procedure is difficult, and the lack of access to this procedure means people in low- and middle-income countries have low chances of getting help.

The idea was to develop cornea implants that didn’t rely on human donor tissue.

Researchers first demonstrated that biosynthetic corneas were good replacements for donor corneas over a decade ago. But those relied on lab-grown human collagen that were molded into the shape of corneas.

This time, scientists are showing that the same biosynthetic cornea can be produced with the sue of medical-grade collagen sourced from pig skin.

It’s cheap and sustainable, and thanks to new technology, these bioengineered corneas can be stored for almost two years. Donated human corneas have to be used within two weeks of harvesting.

“The results show that it is possible to develop a biomaterial that meets all the criteria for being used as human implants, which can be mass-produced and stored up to two years and thereby reach even more people with vision problems,” explained Neil Lagali, one of the researchers working on the project. “This gets us around the problem of shortage of donated corneal tissue and access to other treatments for eye diseases.”

Another innovation was demonstrated which was a new surgical approach for implanting the bioengineered cornea.

There’s no need to remove a patient’s pre-existing cornea. The new method means that only a small suture is necessary to insert the novel implant.

It is a less invasive method which means more people will have access to the procedure. The surgeon won’t have to remove the patient’s own tissue. A small incision is made, then the implant is inserted into the existing cornea.

A pilot trial tested the implant in 20 volunteers, 14 of whom were totally blind before the procedure. A two-year follow-up revealed that all 20 volunteers had their vision completely restored.

There were no adverse effects from the surgery.

The tissue healed quickly, with just eight-weeks of immunosuppressive eye drops required to prevent rejection.

Current cornea transplants that used human tissue needed years of immunosuppressive medications just to prevent tissue rejection.

The findings are promising, but these results are from a preliminary pilot study. A larger clinical trial is needed before this innovative implant is approved.

Lagali hopes that this project will lead to more effective ways in repairing corneal damage.

Millions of people around the world are waiting.

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Source: New Atlas, Nature Biotechnology