According to the World Health Organization, corneal opacity is the 4th leading cause of blindness. Corneal opacity results from the formation of a scar in the cornea after trauma. Much work has been done on understanding the corneal wound-healing cascade and through these studies, the field has been able to correlate the magnitude of scarring to several molecular mechanisms triggered during cornea reconstruction. Although studies have identified several causative agents for corneal scarring, cornea transplantation is the only current therapy to restore vision to people with corneal opacity.
In our lab, we ask how does the embryo build the cornea and if we wound an embryonic cornea, do the corneal precursor cells retain enough stem-cell like properties to regenerate the tissue transparently and scar-free? Interestingly, we have already begun to notice some significant differences in embryonic wound healing cascade as compared to adult cornea healing. In fact, most of the wounded corneas appear to heal as transparently as non-wounded embryonic corneas.
This poses some very interesting questions; why can the embryonic tissue heal scar-free and what can the embryonic cornea tell us about mechanisms of scarring in the adult cornea. Furthermore, can we isolate the corneal precursor cells and instruct them to form corneal tissue in a wounded adult cornea?
If so, this research holds great promise as a foundation for new treatments for corneal opacity.