Gene therapy for adRP due to RHO mutations was recently shown to prevent photoreceptor death in a canine model of Class B disease. Among translational steps to be taken, one is to determine a method to detect efficacy in a human clinical trial. The relatively slow progression of adRP becomes a difficulty for clinical trials requiring an answer to whether there is slowed progression of degeneration in response to therapy. We performed a single-center, retrospective observational study of cross-sectional and longitudinal data. The study was prompted by our identification of a pericentral disease distribution in Class B RHO-adRP. Ultrawide optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans were used. Inferior retinal pericentral defects was an early disease feature. Degeneration further inferior in the retina merged with the pericentral defect, which extended into superior retina. In about 70% of patients, there was an asymmetric island of structure with significantly greater superior than inferior ellipsoid zone (EZ) extent. Serial measures of photoreceptor structure by OCT indicated constriction in superior retinal extent within a two-year interval. We conclude that these results should allow early-phase trials of therapy in RHO-adRP to move forward by inclusion of patients with an asymmetric extent of photoreceptor structure and by monitoring therapeutic effects over two years in the superior retina, a reasonable target for subretinal injection.
Keywords: optical coherence tomography; photoreceptors; retinal degeneration; rods.