Cataract is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Currently, restoration of vision in\ncataract patients requires surgical removal of the cataract. Due to the large and increasing number\nof cataract patients, the annual cost of surgical cataract treatment amounts to billions of dollars.\nLimited access to functional human lens tissue during the early stages of cataract formation has\nhampered efforts to develop effective anti-cataract drugs. The ability of human pluripotent stem\n(PS) cells to make large numbers of normal or diseased human cell types raises the possibility that\nhuman PS cells may provide a new avenue for defining the molecular mechanisms responsible for\ndifferent types of human cataract. Towards this end, methods have been established to differentiate\nhuman PS cells into both lens cells and transparent, light-focusing human micro-lenses. Sensitive\nand quantitative assays to measure light transmittance and focusing ability of human PS cellderived\nmicro-lenses have also been developed. This review will, therefore, examine how human\nPS cell-derived lens cells and micro-lenses might provide a new avenue for development of muchneeded\ndrugs to treat human cataract.
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