Causes of blindness differ across the globe; in higher-income countries, most blindness results from the degeneration of specific classes of cells in the retina, including retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), photoreceptors, and retinal ganglion cells. Advances over the past decade in retinal regenerative medicine have allowed each of these cell types to be produced ex vivo from progenitor stem cells. Here, we review progress in applying these technologies to cell replacement — with the goal of vision restoration in degenerative disease. We discuss the landscape of human clinical trials for RPE transplantation and advanced preclinical studies for other cell types. We also review progress toward in situ repair of retinal degeneration using endogenous progenitor cells. Finally, we provide a high-level overview of progress toward prosthetic ocular vision restoration, including advanced photovoltaic devices, opsin-based gene therapy, and small-molecule photoswitches. Progress in each of these domains is at or near the human clinical-trial stage, bringing the audacious goal of vision restoration within sight.

全球各地导致失明的原因各不相同；在高收入国家，大多数失明是由于视网膜中特定类别细胞的退化所致，包括视网膜色素上皮 (RPE)、感光细胞和视网膜神经节细胞。过去十年视网膜再生医学的进步使得这些细胞类型中的每一种都可以从祖干细胞离体产生。在这里，我们回顾了将这些技术应用于细胞替代的进展——目标是恢复退行性疾病的视力。我们讨论了 RPE 移植的人体临床试验和其他细胞类型的高级临床前研究的情况。我们还回顾了利用内源性祖细胞原位修复视网膜变性的进展。最后，我们对假眼视力恢复的进展进行了高度概述，包括先进的光伏器件、基于视蛋白的基因治疗和小分子光开关。每个领域的进展都已处于或接近人体临床试验阶段，使视力恢复的大胆目标成为现实。