US donor criticised Bush’s law on stem cell research.

SCIENTISTS hope to deliver the world’s first stem cell treatment for blindness within five years.

A team of leading researchers and clinicians is being assembled for the project, which will use embryonic stem cells to repair damaged retinas.

Their target is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among the elderly in the developed world.

In Europe as a whole, an estimated 14 million people suffer blindness because of the condition.

The scientists, led by teams from University College London (UCL), Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and the University of Sheffield, plan to transplant cells created in the laboratory into the eyes of patients.

They predict that in 10 years’ time the hour-long operation will be a routine day-surgery procedure.

The London Project to Cure AMD was launched yesterday with £4 million (€5.89m) in funding from an anonymous, private donor from the US.

The funds donor, who has refused to be identified, is said to have been frustrated by the Bush administrations’ restrictions on stem cell research.

Professor Pete Coffey, from UCL’s Institute of Ophthalmology, said: “Our goal within the five-year period is to have a cohort of 10 or 12 patients we can treat.”

AMD is associated with defects in retinal pigment epithelial cells, which support the light-sensitive photoreceptors of the retina.

In AMD, cells in the middle of the retina die, causing loss of vision from the centre of the visual field.

There are two types of AMD, “wet” and “dry”. While much progress has been made in tackling wet AMD, which is characterised by leaking blood vessels, there is no treatment available for dry AMD.

Dr Lyndon Da Cruz, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields, said: “Given AMD could affect up to one-third of the population by 2070, and that the bulk of these will have dry AMD, the potential to create a treatment strategy for this condition is critical.”

The stem cells will be injected as a single oval- shaped patch measuring 6mm by 4mm, which unrolls into place after being delivered by syringe.