Long-Term Multimodal Imaging Follow-Up On Patients Treated With CNTF-Producing Encapsulated Cell Therapy for Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 (MacTel)

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-2025

Publication Title

Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science

Abstract

Purpose : Macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) is a bilateral degenerative disease leading to central vision loss. Encapsulated cell-based delivery of the neuroprotective agent ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has shown promising results in clinical trials for patients with MacTel. This study is a multicenter, retrospective analysis of long-term longitudinal data from two clinical sites, Moran Eye Center and Beaumont Eye Institute, focused on the long-term follow-up on study participants to evaluate the long-term efficacy of treatment.

Methods : 18 eyes of 8 patients were investigated in this longitudinal retrospective analysis: 6 eyes received treatment, 2 eyes were sham controlled, 8 fellow eyes served as control eyes. The mean age at baseline was 63 ± 8 years with a mean follow-up time of 69 ± 9 months. Multimodal imaging included optical coherence tomography, macular pigment measurement, fundus autofluorescence and fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO). Paired-sample t-tests were used to compare study eyes to their respective fellow eyes.

Results : The implant was generally well tolerated. The progression of MacTel was slowed on OCT in eyes that received treatment, and the ellipsoid zone recovered in individual cases. A non-significant trend (P=0.063) of increased mean macular pigment (lutein and zeaxanthin) optical density was found at follow-up in eyes treated with the implant (8473 ± 1509 arbitary units, a.u.) versus observed fellow eyes (7729 ± 1580 a.u.), while no difference was seen at baseline. In the MacTel zone (5 degree horizontal and 4 degrees vertical eccentricity from the fovea), there was a non-significant trend of less progression in FLIO lifetimes of treated eyes (12 ± 26 picoseconds) versus observed fellow eyes (20 ± 63 picoseconds; p=0.28).

Conclusions : CNTF-producing encapsulated cell therapy has the potential to slow the progression of MacTel and may be a valuable therapeutical option for patients in the near future.

Volume

66

Issue

8

First Page

2459

Comments

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology ARVO Annual Meeting, May 4-8, 2025, Salt Lake City, UT

Last Page

2459

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