Human Corneal Endothelial Cells Expanded In Vitro Are a Powerful Resource for Tissue Engineering

Human corneal endothelial cells have two major functions: barrier function mediated by proteins such as ZO-1 and pump function mediated by Na-K-ATPase which help to maintain visual function. However, human corneal endothelial cells are notorious for their limited proliferative capability in vivo and are therefore prone to corneal endothelial dysfunction that eventually may lead to blindness. At present, the only method to cure corneal endothelial dysfunction is by transplantation of a cadaver donor cornea with normal corneal endothelial cells. Due to the global shortage of donor corneas, it is vital to engineer corneal tissue in vitro that could potentially be transplanted clinically. In this review, we summarize the advances in understanding the behavior of human corneal endothelial cells, their current engineering strategy in vitro and their potential applications.