Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) are well-suited to serve as gene transfer vectors. Onasemnogene abeparvovec uses AAV9 as virus vector. Previous exposure to wild-type AAVs or placental transfer of maternal AAV antibodies, however, can trigger an immune response to the vector virus which may limit the therapeutic effectiveness of gene transfer and impact safety. We present the case of a female patient with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and three survival motor neuron 2 (SMN2) gene copies. The infant had elevated titers of AAV9 antibodies at diagnosis at 9 days of age. Being presymptomatic at diagnosis, it was decided to retest the patient's AAV9 antibody titer at two-weekly intervals. Six weeks after initial diagnosis, a titer of 1:12.5 allowed treatment with onasemnogene abeparvovec. The presented case demonstrates that, provided the number of SMN2 gene copies and the absence of symptoms allow, onasemnogene abeparvovec therapy is feasible in patients with initially exclusionary AAV9 antibody titers of >1:50.
Keywords: AAV9 antibody titer; Spinal muscular atrophy; floppy infant; gene transfer therapy; onasemnogene abeparvovec.