UCSF

Purpose

To report on cases of unilateral perimacular atrophy after treatment with voretigene neparvovec-rzyl, in the setting of previous contralateral eye treatment with a different viral vector.

Design

Single-center, retrospective chart review.

Methods

In this case series, four patients between the ages of six and 11 years old with RPE65-related retinopathy were treated unilaterally with rAAV2-CB-hRPE65 as part of a gene augmentation clinical trial (NCT00749957). Six to 10 years later the contralateral eyes were treated with the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, voretigene neparvovec-rzyl. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus photos, ocular coherence tomography, two-color dark-adapted perimetry, full field stimulus threshold testing (FST), and location of subretinal bleb and chorioretinal atrophy were evaluated.

Results

Three out of four patients showed unilateral perimacular atrophy after treatment with voretigene, ranging from five to 22 months after treatment. Areas of robust visual field improvement were followed by areas of chorioretinal atrophy. Despite perimacular changes, BCVA, FST, and subjective improvements in vision and nyctalopia were maintained. Perimacular atrophy was not observed in the first eye treated with the previous viral vector.

Conclusions

We observed areas of robust visual field improvement followed by perimacular atrophy in voretigene treated eyes, as compared to the initially treated contralateral eyes.

Translational relevance

Caution is advised when using two different viral vectors between eyes in gene therapy. This may become an important issue in the future with increasing gene therapy clinical trials for inherited retinal dystrophies.