Stem cell therapy for ocular disorders.

Cell injury or degeneration occurs in a number of blinding diseases. Therapy has classically consisted of preventing the initial injury or increasing the resistance of cells to injury (cytoprotection). Recently, it has become possible to repopulate tissue compartments with stem cells. This article presents a current summary of ocular stem cell research and applications to disease. It is based on presentations and discussions from the July 2002 international conference "Stem Cells and Glaucoma" sponsored by the Glaucoma Foundation. This meeting, the first of its kind, brought together ophthalmologists, geneticists, immunologists, and developmental biologists working on stem cell development and applications in both human and animal models.