Current Development in Encapsulated Cell Therapy for Degenerative Retinopathies

Chronic degenerative retinopathies are the leading causes of irreversible vision loss and blindness worldwide. There are limited treatment options for these conditions due to the lack of effective drug delivery system. Currently, to slow disease progression, invasive and repeated drug administrations into the vitreous are clinically performed. Encapsulated cell therapy (ECT) is a promising approach for delivery of therapeutics to the retina in a safe, controlled, stable and long-term manner. By utilizing cells as a source of drug production and isolating them from the host immune system with biomaterial scaffolds, ECT enables the delivery of freshly synthesized therapeutics over prolonged periods of time at the targeted location. Although ECT has been widely explored in treating neurological disorders in the central nervous system, its application in the eye is a relative new area of research. This review paper intends to discuss the characteristic of the eye as a target for ECT and the various parameters for optimizing ECT for ocular applications. Also, the current development of ECT in retinal degenerative diseases is discussed. Further advancement in ocular drug development and optimization of scaffold and cell performance in the ocular environment can potentiate the application of ECT over a broad range of debilitating posterior ocular disorders.