Dupilumab-Induced, Tralokinumab-Induced, and Belantamab Mafodotin-Induced Adverse Ocular Events-Incidence, Etiology, and Management.

Emerging monoclonal antibody therapies are assuming greater importance in the management of severe and refractory forms of immunity-driven and oncological disorders. However, some have been found to induce adverse ocular events (AOEs) leading to discontinuation of treatment or additional multidisciplinary management. We present the current knowledge concerning AOEs associated with 3 monoclonal antibody therapies: dupilumab, tralokinumab, and belantamab mafodotin.

First Results of a New Hyperaspheric Add-on Intraocular Lens Approach Implanted in Pseudophakic Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To determine the visual outcomes of the EyeMax Mono intraocular lens (IOL) technology (London Eye Hospital Pharma, London, UK), which is a foldable and injectable hydrophobic acrylic IOL implanted as an add-on solution in pseudophakic eyes with age-related macular degeneration, in a pilot study.

Design: A prospective, interventional case series.

Participants: A total of 22 pseudophakic eyes (11 patients) with bilateral severe or intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (13 eyes) or stable wet AMD or disciform scarring (9 eyes) meeting the criteria for sulcal IOL implantation.

Initial Clinical Results With a Novel Monofocal-Type Intraocular Lens for Extended Macular Vision in Patients With Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To determine the feasibility of a novel intraocular lens (IOL) designed to improve retinal image quality at up to 10° of retinal eccentricity and optionally provide retinal magnification in patients with macular disease.

Methods: In this prospective, interventional pilot study, 8 eyes of 7 patients with bilateral dry age-related macular degeneration and 1+ or less cataract underwent phacoemulsification and capsular bag implantation of a single, injectable, hydrophobic acrylic IOL. Safety and efficacy were assessed by monitoring logMAR corrected distance and near visual acuity, intraocular pressure, specular microscopy, 80-point visual field testing, and anterior segment and macular optical coherence tomography at baseline and 1 week, 1 month, and 2 months postoperatively.

Influence of Socioeconomic Deprivation on Visual Acuity in Patients Undergoing Corneal Transplantation.

Purpose: To determine whether there is an association between socioeconomic status and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in patients undergoing corneal transplantation in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 4306 patients registered on the national United Kingdom Transplant Registry and undergoing penetrating keratoplasty, anterior lamellar keratoplasty, or endothelial keratoplasty in 2002, 2008, and 2013. Socioeconomic status was determined by applying a validated deprivation index to generate a score based on 5 categories.

Consecutive case series of 244 age-related macular degeneration patients undergoing implantation with an extended macular vision IOL.

Purpose: To determine safety and visual outcomes in eyes with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) implanted with a novel intraocular lens (IOL) that delivers an optimized retinal image to all macular areas within 10 degrees of retinal eccentricity.

Methods: This was a consecutive case series of 244 eyes with dry/stable wet AMD and logMAR visual acuity ≥0.3 implanted with iolAMD Eyemax mono (London Eye Hospital Pharma), a single-piece, injectable, hydrophobic acrylic IOL sited in the capsular bag.

Enhanced Ccl2-Ccr2 signaling drives more severe choroidal neovascularization with aging.

The impact of many inflammatory diseases is influenced by age-related changes in the activation of resident and circulating myeloid cells. In the eye, a major sight-threatening consequence of age-related macular degeneration is the development of severe choroidal neovascularization (CNV). To identify the molecular pathways and myeloid cell populations involved in this increased neovascular response, we characterized the immune status of murine choroid and retina during aging and in the context of experimental CNV.

Injectable intraocular telescope: Pilot study.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of a new injectable telescopic intraocular lens (IOL).

Setting: London Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom.

Design: Prospective interventional pilot study.

Spectral sensitivity measurements reveal partial success in restoring missing rod function with gene therapy.

Restored rod visual function after gene therapy can be established unequivocally by demonstrating that, after dark adaptation, spectral sensitivity has the shape characteristic of rods and that this shape collapses to a cone-like shape before rods have recovered after an intense bleach. We used these tests to assess retinal function in eight young adults and children with early-onset severe retinal dystrophy from Phase II of a clinical gene-therapy trial for RPE65 deficiency that involved the subretinal delivery of a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector carrying RPE65. We found substantial improvements in rod sensitivity in two participants: dark-adapted spectral sensitivity was rod-like after treatment and was cone-like before rods had recovered after a bleach.

Novel CCR3 Antagonists Are Effective Mono- and Combination Inhibitors of Choroidal Neovascular Growth and Vascular Permeability.

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a defining feature of wet age-related macular degeneration. We examined the functional role of CCR3 in the development of CNV in mice and primates. CCR3 was associated with spontaneous CNV lesions in the newly described JR5558 mice, whereas CCR3 ligands localized to CNV-associated macrophages and the retinal pigment epithelium/choroid complex.

IL-4 regulates specific Arg-1(+) macrophage sFlt-1-mediated inhibition of angiogenesis.

One of the main drivers for neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration is activation of innate immunity in the presence of macrophages. Here, we demonstrate that T helper cell type 2 cytokines and, in particular, IL-4 condition human and murine monocyte phenotype toward Arg-1(+), and their subsequent behavior limits angiogenesis by increasing soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) gene expression. We document that T helper cell type 2 cytokine-conditioned murine macrophages neutralize vascular endothelial growth factor-mediated endothelial cell proliferation (human umbilical vein endothelial cell and choroidal vasculature) in a sFlt-1-dependent manner.

Long-term effect of gene therapy on Leber's congenital amaurosis.

Background: Mutations in RPE65 cause Leber's congenital amaurosis, a progressive retinal degenerative disease that severely impairs sight in children. Gene therapy can result in modest improvements in night vision, but knowledge of its efficacy in humans is limited.

Methods: We performed a phase 1-2 open-label trial involving 12 participants to evaluate the safety and efficacy of gene therapy with a recombinant adeno-associated virus 2/2 (rAAV2/2) vector carrying the RPE65 complementary DNA, and measured visual function over the course of 3 years.

An aspheric intraocular telescope for age-related macular degeneration patients.

We have designed an intraocular telescope for the posterior chamber of the human eye of patients with age related macular degeneration. The basic design is composed of two decentered high optical power lenses ( + 66D and -66D) inducing a 3° prismatic effect to project a magnified central field of view into a healthier location off the central fovea. Aspheric surfaces were used to ensure a compromise between good optical quality and high tolerance to the final axial position of both lenses after surgery.

Nature of the visual loss in observers with Leber's congenital amaurosis caused by specific mutations in RPE65.

Purpose: To characterize visual losses associated with genetic mutations in the RPE65 gene that cause defects in the RPE-specific isomerase, RPE65. RPE65 is an important component of the retinoid cycle that restores 11-cis-retinal after its photoisomerization to its all-trans form. The defects investigated here cause Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA2), an autosomal, recessively-inherited, severe, congenital-onset rod-cone dystrophy.

The relevance of chemokine signalling in modulating inherited and age-related retinal degenerations.

Systemic monocytes, tissue resident macrophages, dendritic cells and microglia have specific roles in immune surveillance and maintenance of tissue homeostasis and are key regulator and effector cells of the local immune response to acute and chronic tissue injury.Two major signalling pathways that differentially define trafficking behaviour and activation of systemic and local myeloid cell populations in response to exogenous and endogenous inflammatory stimuli are the Ccl2-Ccr2 and the Cx3cl1-Cx3cr1 chemokine pathways.Alterations in these pathways have been implicated in controlling myeloid cell activation during normal ageing and in age-related retinal degenerations, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

CD200R signaling inhibits pro-angiogenic gene expression by macrophages and suppresses choroidal neovascularization.

Macrophages are rapidly conditioned by cognate and soluble signals to acquire phenotypes that deliver specific functions during inflammation, wound healing and angiogenesis. Whether inhibitory CD200R signaling regulates pro-angiogenic macrophage phenotypes with the potential to suppress ocular neovascularization is unknown. CD200R-deficient bone marrow derived macrophages (BMMΦ) were used to demonstrate that macrophages lacking this inhibitory receptor exhibit enhanced levels of Vegfa, Arg-1 and Il-1β when stimulated with PGE2 or RPE-conditioned (PGE2-enriched) media.

Perineural infiltrates in Pseudomonas keratitis.

We describe 2 cases of contact lens-related microbial keratitis caused by infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in which perineural infiltrates were observed at presentation. In both cases, examination by confocal microscopy was negative for Acanthamoeba cysts but bacterial cultures and microscopy of corneal scrapings were positive for P aeruginosa. Both cases responded rapidly to treatment with topical levofloxacin with no significant long-term sequelae.

Assessing a novel depot delivery strategy for noninvasive administration of VEGF/PDGF RTK inhibitors for ocular neovascular disease.

Purpose: Two noninvasive delivery strategies for VEGF/PDGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (RTKI) were explored that exploited uveal retention as a means for establishing an ocular drug depot: a single oral "loading" dose and topical administration.

Methods: Melanin binding was confirmed by centrifugation and mass spectrometry. Ocular retention was examined in pigmented and albino rats.

Ccl2, Cx3cr1 and Ccl2/Cx3cr1 chemokine deficiencies are not sufficient to cause age-related retinal degeneration.

Monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and microglia play critical roles in the local immune response to acute and chronic tissue injury and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Defects in Ccl2-Ccr2 and Cx3cl1-Cx3cr1 chemokine signalling cause enhanced accumulation of bloated subretinal microglia/macrophages in senescent mice and this phenomenon is reported to result in the acceleration of age-related retinal degeneration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether defects in CCL2-CCR2 and CX3CL1-CX3CR1 signalling pathways, alone or in combination, cause age-dependent retinal degeneration.

Long-term preservation of cones and improvement in visual function following gene therapy in a mouse model of leber congenital amaurosis caused by guanylate cyclase-1 deficiency.

Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a severe retinal dystrophy manifesting from early infancy as poor vision or blindness. Loss-of-function mutations in GUCY2D cause LCA1 and are one of the most common causes of LCA, accounting for 20% of all cases. Human GUCY2D and mouse Gucy2e genes encode guanylate cyclase-1 (GC1), which is responsible for restoring the dark state in photoreceptors after light exposure.