Kelman lecturer works toward new treatment for corneal endothelial dysfunction
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SAN DIEGO — Shigeru Kinoshita, MD, PhD, detailed the clinical application of cultivated cells and the medical treatment for corneal endothelial dysfunction during the Charles D. Kelman Innovator’s Lecture here.
“We now have PKP, DSEK or DMEK, but in addition to that, we may be able to add additional treatments such as the cell injection of the cultivated corneal endothelial cells or the Rho-kinase inhibitor and eye drops,” he said at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting.
Shigeru Kinoshita
Kinoshita recommended using cultivated corneal cells for the advanced stage of corneal endotheliopathy or eye drops for the early stage of the dysfunction.
The establishment of human corneal endothelial cell culture for clinical purposes began in 2010. The next step is to obtain a higher quality of cultivated endothelial cells for safety issues and stable production, he said.
“We try to cooperate with the endothelial cells,” Kinoshita said. “After the DSEK or DMEK procedure, if you add some of the eye drops after cell injection, that could increase the endothelial cell density so that [it] can last forever for the [patient’s] lifetime.” - by Kristie L. Kahl
Disclosure: Kinoshita reports he is a consultant for Alcon Laboratories, Hoya, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Santen Pharmaceutical and Senju Pharmaceutical; a lecturer for Abbott Medical Optics, Alcon Laboratories, Hoya, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, Santen Pharmaceutical and Senju Pharmaceutical; a speaker for Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Santen Pharmaceutical and Senju Pharmaceutical; and has propriety interest in JCR Pharmaceuticals, Santen Pharmaceutical and Senju Pharmaceutical.