The iris is a pigmented disk with a variable aperture which forms the pupil of the eye. It is covered by squamous epithelium on anterior surface and 2 layers of pigmented epithelium on posterior. The iris pigment epithelial cells (IPE) share functional properties with retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) such as phagocytosis, degradation of rod outer segments and synthesis of trophic factors. In recent years, IPE have been transplanted into the subretinal space of eye to treat RPE defects. The grafted IPE were seen to survive for months. There was a remodeling of cellular layers in the subretinal space over time where grafted IPE joined the native RPE. The cellular response that developed exhibited macrophages and were similar to that observed following RPE transplantation. In vitro study also show that IPE expressing CD86, directly suppresses T cell activation via binding to cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4.HIPEpiC from AcceGen Research Laboratories are isolated from the human iris. HIPEpiC are cryopreserved at passage one and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5×10^5 cells in 1 ml volume. HIPEpiC are characterized by immunofluorescent method with antibodies to cytokeratin-18, vimentin and fibronectin. HIPEpiC are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HIPEpiC are guaranteed to further expand for two passages (around 10 population doublings) in the conditions provided by AcceGen Research Laboratories.
