AAV vector-meditated expression of HLA-G reduces injury-induced corneal vascularization, immune cell infiltration, and fibrosis.

ABSTRACT: Over 1.5 million individuals suffer from cornea vascularization due to genetic and/or environmental factors, compromising visual acuity and often resulting in blindness. Current treatments of corneal vascularization are limited in efficacy and elicit undesirable effects including, ironically, vision loss. To develop a safe and effective therapy for corneal vascularization, adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy, exploiting a natural immune tolerance mechanism induced by human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G), was investigated. Self-complementary AAV cassettes containing codon optimized HLA-G1 (transmembrane) or HLA-G5 (soluble) isoforms were validated in vitro. Then, following a corneal intrastromal injection, AAV vector transduction kinetics, using a chimeric AAV capsid, were determined in

SUBMITTER: Hirsch ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5736662 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature