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Are Eye Transplants the Next Frontier for Vision Restoration?

4 minute read

Curing blindness or restoring vision by eye transplant was once considered a long shot. But a new research effort led by several teams across the country, including investigators from Mass General Brigham, could help to make this lofty goal a reality for some patients.

In late 2024, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced several research teams to support work geared towards developing the first-ever complete eye transplantation procedure for its Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program.

In addition, THEA aims to develop new technologies or therapies to preserve or regrow nerves from the eye to the brain. These regenerative solutions could help prevent degenerative blindness and are a necessary step toward successful whole eye transplantation.

The beginning of a fruitful research collaboration

Nitin Joshi, PhD

Nitin Joshi, PhD, and Jeffrey Karp, PhD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham system, will join this project led by co-directors, Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg at Stanford University and Dr. Jose Sahel at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In recent years, Joshi’s and Karp’s research teams have focused on developing drug delivery methods that suppress the immune response locally in transplant procedures, with a particular focus on limb transplants.

Patients who have undergone transplants typically need to remain on immunosuppressive therapies for life to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ or graft. These therapies involve medications that suppress the body's immune response to the foreign tissue, helping to maintain graft function and improve longevity. However, a significant issue remains: these medications are typically administered orally, meaning patients must take a pill every single day.

Immunosuppressants are challenging to manage because their effective blood concentration range is very small. Too little can lead to transplant rejection, while too much can cause serious side effects like organ damage, infections, and other complications.

Jeffrey Karp, PhD

Drs. Karp and Joshi, in collaboration with Vijay Saradhi Gorantla, MD, PhD, at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, are developing innovative technologies to deliver immunosuppressive drugs directly to the transplant site. This method allows for a single injection to provide sustained release over several months, reducing systemic toxicity, improving patient compliance, and increasing graft survival rates.

They have conducted extensive studies in small and large animal models to demonstrate both the survival of the graft and the safety of these new delivery methods.

An Ambitious Goal to Cure Blindness

As part of the ARPA-H THEA program, the teams have united to pursue a bold and transformative goal: curing blindness. But how will they accomplish it?

Dr. Gorantla will oversee transplant protocols and perform surgeries, while Drs. Joshi and Karp provide advanced injectable technologies to deliver immunosuppressive drugs directly to the transplant site, reducing risks and enhancing effectiveness. Other team members will work on preserving donor eyes for transplantation and regenerating the optic nerve to restore vision.

If successful, this ARPA-H program could transform treatment for major causes of blindness in the U.S. — glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy — offering new hope to millions.