Transplantation of human iPSC-derived retinal cells in the cone-dominant Northern tree shrew

Complex immunosuppression enabled survival of human iPSC-derived retinal photoreceptors in the cone-dominant Northern tree shrew for up to 8 weeks.

• Why it matters: Transplanting human retinal cells requires overcoming immune rejection, and prior failures limited progress toward durable photoreceptor replacement in this model.
• What they did: Northern tree shrew eyes received dissociated GFP+ hiPSC-derived retinal organoid cells (n=22 eyes; 12 animals), with Notch inhibitor pretreatment, then were monitored for up to 8 weeks using SLO, OCT, and AOSLO.
• The result: Simple immunosuppression led to graft failure within 2 weeks (n=10 eyes), while the complex cocktail supported robust survival to 8 weeks (n=12 eyes), with OCT-confirmed subretinal placement and histology/AOSLO evidence of human photoreceptor fate and inner-segment-like structures.

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