Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinopathies: Update on Development Progress

Inherited retinopathies are a group of genetic disorders that lead to blindness and/or vision impairment. Until now, treatment options for inherited retinopathies largely remained limited to supportive therapy. Gene therapy is an attractive therapeutic technique that allows repair of diseased genes, and it has shown success in vision improvement for patients affected by retinal disorders caused by genetic mutations. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene therapy treatment for the eye, indicated for biallelic RPE65 mutation associated Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), in December of 2017. Additionally, results from other ongoing clinical trials could further establish gene therapy as the milestone treatment that plays a role in disease process reversal for inherited retinopathies. This review article provides an update on the status of gene therapy for treatment of a variety of retinopathies, including LCA, choroideremia, achromatopsia, Stargardt disease, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, and X-linked retinoschisis. Furthermore, this article explores transport methods of the genetic material, as well as therapy-delivery approaches used in the clinical setting.