Scientists from Linköping University in Sweden have to create a bioengineered human cornea. For those lost, the cornea is the transparent tissue responsible for covering the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber of the eye. It refracts light together with the lens and the aforementioned front part, is transplantable and plays a very important role in protecting the eye itself.

The cornea developed by Linköping University was created from collagen derived from pig skin, a purified product made to resemble the proteins found in real human cornea (the ones we have in sight since birth). This development has potential as an alternative to current transplants, whose donors are deceased people and without specialized cold storage, they last only five to seven days.

A team of researchers conducted a small study involving 20 patients from Iran and India with advanced keratoconus, of whom 14 were legally blind and the rest had vision problems. The implant was able to restore or at least improve vision in all patients who also did not develop complications no intraoperative or postoperative adverse effects after 24 months of clinical follow-up. 14 blind subjects were able to regain contact lens tolerance and at a general level the results were estimated to be “as good as, if not better than, traditional transplant techniques“.

The researchers hope that their development will contribute to the mass production of quality corneas, as many donated corneas are currently of poor quality because they come from elderly people. An estimated 12.7 million people are blind due to corneal problems, but only one in every 70 in need is available for transplants.

The importance of the cornea and the difficulties caused by the situation surrounding transplants have led to several lines of research to create them through bioengineering. Four years ago we reported that scientists at the University of Newcastle announced the creation of the first 3D printed human cornea.

We will see if all these efforts translate in the future into making quality corneas available on a mass scale to all people who need a transplant, because the cornea is not the most important part of the human body, but it is essential to have a good quality of life.