Glimpses 2009-2010.pdf - LV Prasad Eye Institute

Step by step progress in
stem cell research
When I joined this Institute in 1998
as head of the pathology service, the
diagnostic workload did not fill my
working hours. So I began looking at
some interesting questions in fungal
keratitis and retinoblastoma, where I
wanted to understand how malignant cells
differentiate into terminally differentiated
benign cells, as they do in neuroblastoma,
another childhood tumor. I initiated
some cell culture work to evaluate my
hypothesis and had a reasonable amount of success. Success raises hopes and this is what happened in
my case, too. One morning when I was discussing my results with my colleague Virender S Sangwan,
he challenged me to put this knowledge to better use by applying it to help treat limbal stem cell
deficiency. An effort that started as an earnest attempt to help a friend and do need-based research,
led to success and recognition that we never imagined! However with increasing knowledge of adult
stem cells, and increasing clinical diagnostic work in the lab, especially of retinoblastoma, my interest in
retinoblastoma was kindled again. Stem cells... differentiation... resistance to chemotherapy... all started
making more sense to me. With the excitement of solving a jigsaw puzzle I initiated work on cancer
stem cells in retinoblastoma. And yes! I found evidence of cancer stem cells in retinoblastoma. Once
again we had hit upon something exciting that has implications beyond the academic, with the promise
of making a big difference to children suffering from retinoblastoma.
Geeta K Vemugani
Sudhakar and Sreekanth Ravi Stem Cell Biology Laboratory
Ophthalmic Pathology Laboratory
Cell biology research: induced pluripotency
LVPEI’s stem cell work has benefited over 700 patients over the past 8 years with an overall success
rate of 50-60% but there are other ocular disorders that could conceivably benefit from regenerative
medicine—such as the retina. The adult retina has no stem cells and therefore it becomes important
to identify a suitable cell type that can be used in therapy. While embryonic stem cells are known to
be a source of “pluripotent” cells (which
can differentiate into many different cell
types), there are many ethical issues that
arise with the use of embryonic tissues
in research. We have focused on trying
to generate pluripotent cells from adult
sources and, more specifically, directly
from the patient’s cells.
Mature somatic cells can be
reprogrammed to a pluripotent state by
different methods like transferring their
nucleus into enucleated oocytes (the
story behind the making of Dolly, the
first cloned sheep). Work in Japan and
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