Therapeutic Efficacy of Multi-Characteristic Opsin Gene Therapy in a Mouse Model of Stargardt Disease

Optogenetic gene therapy-based treatment offers a unique approach to bypass dysfunctional or degenerated photoreceptors in retinal degenerative disorders. Ambient light-activatable multi-characteristic opsin (MCO) targeted to bipolar cells of the retina has demonstrated partial vision restoration in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Here, we describe the potential therapeutic efficacy of intravitreally delivered AAV-carried MCO-010 in a mouse model of Stargardt disease. MCO-010 treatment led to significantly improved behavioral outcomes in the visually guided radial arm water maze. Furthermore, longitudinal optical coherence tomographic imaging showed that the MCO-010 treatment led to no notable change in the retina thickness. Furthermore, the MCO-010-treated mice exhibited higher electrophysiological responses compared to the control group. Together, these findings demonstrate potential vision-restoring and disease-modifying aspects of ambient light-activatable intravitreal MCO-010 therapy.