Cord blood serum (CBS) may be neuroprotective in retinal disease, such as ARMD Age Related Macular Degeneration

New study show cord blood serum (CBS), which is full of chemokines and trophic factors, could show neuroprotection in cases of retinal degeneration. 

Could this lead to a new line of neuroprotection drops for glaucoma and macular degeneration?

More studies are needed but CBS holds a great deal of promise  

1. 

Case Reports

Topical Treatment with Cord Blood Serum in Glaucoma Patients: A Preliminary Report

Emilio Campos et al. Case Rep Ophthalmol Med.2018.

   Abstract    PubMed    PMID  

. 2018 Jul 25:2018:2381296.

doi: 10.1155/2018/2381296. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Emilio Campos 1, Piera Versura 1, Giuseppe Giannaccare 1, Adriana Terzi 2, Silvia Bisti 3, Stefano Di Marco 3, Marina Buzzi 2

Affiliations

• 1Ophthalmology Unit, DIMES, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
• 2Emilia Romagna Cord Blood Bank-Transfusion Service, S.Orsola-Malpighi Teaching Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
• 3Vision Lab, DISCAB, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.

• PMID: 30147975
• PMCID: PMC6083596
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/2381296

Abstract

Purpose: To report data which happened to be observed in two glaucoma patients treated with Cord Blood Serum (CBS) eye drops.

Design: A case report and retrospective data analysis.

Methods: CBS topical eye drops, characterized in advance for growth factors (GFs) content, were administered for two months with the aim to relieve their subjective symptoms, in two patients who had referred ocular surface discomfort, although in absence of any sign of keratopathy. As patients were also affected by advanced glaucoma at risk of vision loss and under treatment with hypotensive drugs, they had been also monitored over the same period with IOP controls and visual field tests in our unit.

Results: During subsequent visits, data from Mean Deviation and Pattern Standard Deviation in the visual fields were retrospectively collected and compared with before and after treatment with CBS, and an amelioration was observed.

Conclusions: CBS contains a combination of GFs, which potentially exert a neuroprotective action and elect CBS as an interesting natural source to be delivered in neurodegenerative ocular disorders. The incidentally observed amelioration in these two patients deserves further investigation in this respect.

Campos E, Versura P, Giannaccare G, Terzi A, Bisti S, Di Marco S, Buzzi M. Topical Treatment with Cord Blood Serum in Glaucoma Patients: A Preliminary Report. Case Rep Ophthalmol Med. 2018 Jul 25;2018:2381296. doi: 10.1155/2018/2381296. PMID: 30147975; PMCID: PMC6083596.

2.

 Clinical Trial

  

Biomolecules 

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. 2020 Apr 28;10(5):678.

 doi: 10.3390/biom10050678.

Cord Blood Serum (CBS)-Based Eye Drops Modulate Light-Induced Neurodegeneration in Albino Rat Retinas

Stefano Di Marco 1 2 3 4, Serena Riccitelli 1, Mattia Di Paolo 1, Emilio Campos 5, Marina Buzzi 6, Silvia Bisti 1 2 7, Piera Versura 5

Affiliations  collapse

Affiliations

·        1Department of Applied Clinical Science and Biotechnology, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, Coppito II, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.

·        2Istituto Nazionale di Biostrutture e Biosistemi (INBB), Via Medaglie d'Oro 305, 00136 Roma, Italy.

·        3Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Largo Rosanna Benzi, 16132 Genova, Italy.

·        4IRCCS, Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Largo Rosanna Benzi, 16132 Genova, Italy.

·        5Ophthalmology Unit, University of Bologna and S. Orsola-Malpighi Teaching Hospital, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

·        6Emilia Romagna, Cord Blood Bank-Transfusion Service, S. Orsola-Malpighi Teaching Hospital, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

·        7NetS3 Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego, 30, 16163 Genova, Italy.

·        PMID: 32354031

  

·        PMCID: PMC7277721

  

·        DOI: 10.3390/biom10050678

Free PMC article

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of visual loss in western countries, it has no cure, and its incidence will grow in the future, for the overall population aging. Albino rats with retinal degeneration induced by exposure to high-intensity light (light-damage, LD) have been extensively used as a model of AMD to test neuroprotective agents. Among them, trophic factors (NGF and BDNF) have been shown to play a significant role in photoreceptors' survival. Interestingly, cord blood serum (CBS) is an extract full of chemokines and trophic factors; we, therefore, hypothesized that CBS could be an excellent candidate for neuroprotection. Here, we investigate whether CBS-based eye drops might mitigate the effects of light-induced retinal degeneration in albino rats. CBS treatment significantly preserved flash-electroretinogram (f-ERG) response after LD and reduced the "hot-spot" extension. Besides, CBS-treated animals better preserved the morphology of the outer nuclear layer, together with a reduction in microglia migration and activation. Interestingly, the treatment did not modulate reactive gliosis and activation of the self-protective mechanism (FGF2). In conclusion, our results suggest that CBS-based eye drops might be successfully used to mitigate retinal neurodegenerative processes such as AMD.