TOKYO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese government panel on Wednesday gave green light to the world's first clinical research using human induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to regeneration retinal, according to local media.
The government-related scientific research institute Riken and the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation won the approval from the penal at Japan's health ministry, reported Japan 's Kyodo News.
In the study, the research team will try to develop treatment techniques to cure age-related macular degeneration in the exudative form, a condition that may cause a sudden vision loss due to retinal damage, said Kyodo.
The team plans to extract skin cells from several patients, create iPS cells from them, develop them into pigment epithelium of the retina, and transplant them into the patients to check if the transplant causes any problems.
The research still needs official approval by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare and may start this year, reported Kyodo.
The clinical research comes after Shinya Yamanaka, a professor at the Kyoto University, co-won the 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his development of iPS cells, which may be used for regenerative medicine and drug development. Editor: Luan