Advances in therapy of corneal endothelial decompensation

Corneal endothelial cells act as an ion pump and barrier to maintain corneal transparency and normal physiological function.Once injured, adult corneal endothelial cells are compensated by the migration and expansion of peripheral cells.Excessive injury leads to corneal endothelial decompensation, resulting in corneal edema and visual loss.At present, the common treatment is corneal endothelial transplantation.In recent years, the mechanism of endothelial cell proliferation, differentiation and adhesion has been extensively studied.Alternative therapies for corneal transplantation have also been proposed, including endothelial cell regeneration, induced pluripotent stem cell differentiation, cell transplantation, tissue engineering, and artificial endothelial layer.Cell transplantation and artificial endothelial layer have been approved for clinical trials, while others are still in the basic research stage and their clinical effects are still uncovered.This article reviews the research progress on corneal endothelial cell decompensation in order to find a solution to the shortage of corneal donors and to achieve clinical transformation of scientific research results as soon as possible.

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