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Review
. 2017 Jun 30;14(8):705-710.
doi: 10.7150/ijms.19018. eCollection 2017.

Characterization and Prospective of Human Corneal Endothelial Progenitors

Yongsong Liu  1 , Hong Sun  2 , Ping Guo  3 , Min Hu  4 , Yuan Zhang  5 , Sean Tighe  5 , Shuangling Chen  5 , Yingting Zhu  5
Affiliations
Review

Characterization and Prospective of Human Corneal Endothelial Progenitors

Yongsong Liu et al. Int J Med Sci. .

Abstract

Corneal endothelial cells play a critical role in maintaining corneal transparency and dysfunction of these cells caused by aging, diseases (such as Fuch's dystrophy), injury or surgical trauma, which can lead to corneal edema and blindness. Due to their limited proliferative capacity in vivo, the only treatment method is via transplantation of a cadaver donor cornea. However, there is a severe global shortage of donor corneas. To circumvent such issues, tissue engineering of corneal tissue is a viable option thanks to the recent discoveries in this field. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in reprogramming adult human corneal endothelial cells into their progenitor status, the expansion methods and characteristics of human corneal endothelial progenitors, and their potential clinical applications as corneal endothelial cell grafts.

Keywords: Cornea; Endothelial; Progenitors; Tissue Engineering..

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

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