World's First 3D-Bioprinted Cornea Successfully Transplanted in Israel

In a groundbreaking medical achievement, an Israeli team has successfully transplanted the world's first 3D-bioprinted cornea into a human eye. This innovation offers a potential solution to the critical shortage of donor corneas worldwide, which affects an estimated 12.7 million people requiring transplants.

The technology, developed by the Israeli regenerative medicine company "Precise Bio," was used in a procedure led by Professor Michael Mimouni, head of the Cornea Department at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The process involves cultivating cells from a healthy, deceased donor's cornea in a laboratory to expand them. These cells are then used with a 3D bioprinter to create corneal implants.

This new approach, known as PVEK (an engineered corneal endothelium implant), consists of human collagen scaffolding combined with corneal endothelial cells. It is designed to treat corneal endothelial dysfunction. The team was able to produce 300 transplantable corneas from the cells of just one donor cornea, demonstrating a significant increase in the utilization efficiency of limited donor tissue.

The first patient to receive the implant had reached legal blindness in the treated eye prior to the surgery. According to Rambam Health Care Campus, the patient's vision has been restored post-operation. The implant has now entered Phase I human clinical trials, with the goal of assessing its safety and efficacy in a larger patient group over a 12-month follow-up period. While promising, the technology is still in its early stages and does not yet replace traditional corneal transplantation methods.