Gene therapy in ophthalmology. Review of options and trends in corneal diseases

Abstract

Gene therapy has gained increasing attention and a number of ongoing clinical trials have been initiated. This article provides current perspectives and limitations on gene therapy in ophthalmology. Since a number of comprehensive studies on gene therapy for retinal diseases already exist, we focus attention to the treatment of anterior segment disorders of the eye. We undertook a reference search (DIMDI, PubMed) of articles published between (1989-2000) using the key words cornea, conjunctiva, eye, gene therapy, and keratoplasty. The search was restricted to publications in English, French and German. In addition, we incorporated some results of our recent experiments on cytokine gene transfer to the cornea. Attention to gene therapy in ophthalmology is currently focused on retina and choroidea (40 articles) however, an increasing number of publications includes the cornea (12 articles). The majority of these contributions deals with improvements in the design of gene therapy vectors in particular for targeted application. Gene therapy to the cornea may offer interesting new venues. Currently, insufficient gene transfer technologies and safety concerns prevent the broad application in humans. However, a broad spectrum of applications can be supposed.