A Single Intravitreal Injection of rAAV2-ND4 for the Treatment of Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

Leber's Optic Hereditary Neuropathy (LHON) is a maternally inherited ocular disorder primarily associated with mutations in mitochondrial DNA. The disease is a common cause of blindness in both eyes of affected teenagers and young adults. There is currently no approved effective treatment for LHON. In 2011, the first LHON gene therapy investigator-initiated study was conducted (registered in December 2010 with ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01267422) to explore the safety and efficacy of gene therapy for LHON. The gene therapy was a recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 2 containing human mitochondrial ND4 (MT-ND4) gene (rAAV2-ND4). By 36 months of follow-up, six out of nine patients who received the rAAV2-ND4 intravitreal injection experienced clinically significant vision improvement and no adverse events were observed. This is an open-label, single-arm, multi-center study to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of rAAV-ND4 in the treatment of LHON patients with G11778A mutation. All patients will be treated with a single intravitreal injection rAAV-ND4, with dose 1 × 10\^10 vg/0.05 mL in one of the eyes.