Ocular surface reconstruction in limbal stem cell deficiency. Transplantation of cultivated limbal epithelium

Various ocular surface diseases are caused by loss of corneal epithelial stem cells or dysfunction of the limbal stem cell niche. Besides conventional transplantation of autologous or allogenic limbal tissue, recent advances in tissue engineering have led to the development of new culture and expansion techniques of human limbal stem and progenitor cells (LSPC) as a new strategy to successfully treat limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). From a small autologous limbal biopsy with a limited amount of LSPC an epithelium ready for transplantation is achieved. Autologous grafting of cultured limbal epithelium led in most of the treated cases to a successful reconstruction of the corneal surface. Alternative methods which have recently been introduced to treat LSCD use other stem cell sources including the transplantation of oral mucosal epithelium. In this article the challenges and controversies associated with these stem cell culture techniques for ocular surface reconstruction are reviewed.