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Barone F, Amaral J, Bunea I, Farnoodian M, Gupta R, Gupta R, Baker D, Phillips MJ, Blanch RJ, Maminishkis A, Gamm DM, Bharti K. A versatile laser-induced porcine model of outer retinal and choroidal degeneration for preclinical testing. JCI Insight 2023; 8:157654. [PMID: 37288665 PMCID: PMC10393234 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.157654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Over 30 million people worldwide suffer from untreatable vision loss and blindness associated with childhood-onset and age-related eye diseases caused by photoreceptor (PR), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and choriocapillaris (CC) degeneration. Recent work suggests that RPE-based cell therapy may slow down vision loss in late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a polygenic disease induced by RPE atrophy. However, accelerated development of effective cell therapies is hampered by the lack of large-animal models that allow testing safety and efficacy of clinical doses covering the human macula (20 mm2). We developed a versatile pig model to mimic different types and stages of retinal degeneration. Using an adjustable power micropulse laser, we generated varying degrees of RPE, PR, and CC damage and confirmed the damage by longitudinal analysis of clinically relevant outcomes, including analyses by adaptive optics and optical coherence tomography/angiography, along with automated image analysis. By imparting a tunable yet targeted damage to the porcine CC and visual streak - with a structure similar to the human macula - this model is optimal for testing cell and gene therapies for outer retinal diseases including AMD, retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt, and choroideremia. The amenability of this model to clinically relevant imaging outcomes will facilitate faster translation to patients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Juan Amaral
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Irina Bunea
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Rohan Gupta
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Rishabh Gupta
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Dara Baker
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - M Joseph Phillips
- McPherson Eye Research Institute and Waisman Center, and
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Richard J Blanch
- Academic Department of Military Surgery and Trauma, Royal Centre for Defense Medicine, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Neuroscience and Ophthalmology, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | | | - David M Gamm
- McPherson Eye Research Institute and Waisman Center, and
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Kapil Bharti
- National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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