Efficient retinal ganglion cells transduction by retro-orbital venous sinus injection of AAV-PHP.eB in mature mice

Gene therapy is one of the strategies that may reduce or reverse progressive neurodegeneration in retinal neurodegenerative diseases. However, efficiently delivering transgenes to retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) remains hard to achieve. In this study, we innovatively investigated transduction efficiency of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-PHP.eB in murine RGCs by retro-orbital venous sinus injection. Five doses of AAV-PHP.eB-EGFP were retro-orbitally injected in venous sinus in adult C57/BL6J mice. Two weeks after administration, RGCs transduction efficiency was quantified by retinal flat-mounts and frozen section co-labeling with RGCs marker Rbpms. In addition, safety of this method was evaluated by RGCs survival rate and retinal morphology. To conform efficacy of this new method, AAV-PHP.eB-CNTF was administrated into mature mice through single retro-orbital venous injection after optic nerve crush injury to evaluate axonal elongation. Results indicated that AAV- PHP.eB readily crossed the blood-retina barrier and was able to transduce more than 90% of RGCs when total dose of virus reached 5 × 1010 vector genomes (vg). Moreover, this technique did not affect RGCs survival rate and retinal morphology. Furthermore, retro-orbital venous delivery of AAV-PHP.eB-CNTF effectively transduced RGCs, robustly promoted axonal regeneration after optic nerve crush injury. Thus, novel AAV-PHP.eB retro-orbital injection provides a minimally invasive and efficient route for transgene delivery in treatment of retinal neurodegenerative diseases. •Retro-orbital injection with AAV-PHP.eB transduced RGCs through blood circulation.•This method transduced more than 90% RCCs when virus reached 5 × 1010 vg total dose.•Survival rate and morphology of RGCs remains almost unchanged after injection.