Research progress in autologous regeneration of human corneal endothelial cells

Abstract

Human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs) are very important for maintaining corneal transparency, but HCECs remain arrested at the G1 phase after embryonic development and could not proliferate and regenerate in vivo. The density of HCECs decreases spontaneously with corneal development and aging, while systemic factors and corneal diseases can further cause a massive loss to HCECs, lead to corneal opacity and edema and ultimately induce vision impairment. Therefore, the regeneration of HCECs has always been a heated topic in the field of corneal endothelial research. Currently, function restoration of exogenous corneal endothelium mediated by cell therapy and autologous regeneration of endogenous HCECs have made amazing breakthroughs, with endogenous HCECs autologous regeneration being a more convenient and physiological treatment option. This review summarizes and analyzes the strategies and related techniques that are currently applied to the autologous regeneration of HCECs in aspects of operative treatment, gene therapy and pharmacological treatment.

Keywords

• human corneal endothelial cell (hcec)
• cell proliferation
• autologous regeneration
• operative treatment
• gene therapy
• pharmacological treatment