Phenotypic Characterization of Corneal Epithelium in Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients Post-Autologous Cultivated Oral Mucosal Epithelial Transplantation

Abstract

In long-term follow-up of COMET, epithelium of successful patients demonstrated cornea-like phenotype, whereas failed cases revealed mainly conjunctival phenotype. However, there were evidences that oral mucosal epithelial cells remained across the cornea in both successful and failed COMET as detected by IVCM and ICIF.