Health and Suppliments

Scientists have reported that two legally blind women appeared to gain some vision after receiving an experimental treatment using embryonic stem cells.

“This study provides reason for encouragement, but plans to now get such a treatment would be premature,” said stem cell expert Paul Knoepfler of the University of California, Davis, who had no role in the research.

Each patient was injected in one eye with cells that were derived from embryonic stem cells at the University of California, Los Angeles. Both of the patients showed some improvements in reading progressively smaller letters on an eye chart after four months.

“One must be very careful not to overinterpret the visual benefit,” said Vanderbilt University retina specialist Dr. Paul Sternberg, who is also the president-elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

The findings were published online Monday by the journal Lancet.