Treatment Efficacy and Biocompatibility of a Biodegradable Aflibercept-Loaded Microsphere-Hydrogel Drug Delivery System.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Liu, Wenqiang Tawakol, Anessa Puskar Rudeen, Kayla M. Mieler, William F. Kang-Mieler, Jennifer J.
Copyright Year	2020
Abstract	PurposeTo evaluate the in vivo treatment efficacy and biocompatibility of a biodegradable aflibercept-loaded microsphere-hydrogel drug delivery system (DDS) in a laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) rat model.MethodsTwo weeks after CNV induction, animals were randomly assigned into four experimental groups: (1) no treatment, (2) single intravitreal (IVT) injection of blank DDS, (3) bimonthly bolus IVT aflibercept injections, and (4) single IVT injection of aflibercept-DDS. CNV lesion sizes were monitored longitudinally using fluorescence angiography and multi-Otsu thresholding for 6 months. For safety and biocompatibility assessment, an additional three non-CNV animals received a blank DDS injection. Electroretinogram, intraocular pressure, and clinical ophthalmoscopic examinations were performed.ResultsThe average lesion areas at week 0 (treatment intervention) were (1) 8693 ± 628 µm2 for no treatment, (2) 8261 ± 709 µm2 for blank DDS, (3) 10,368 ± 885 µm2 for bolus, and (4) 10,306 ± 1212 µm2 for aflibercept-DDS. For the nontreated groups, CNV lesion size increased by week 2 and remained increased throughout the study. The treated groups exhibited CNV size reduction after week 2 and remained for 6 months. At week 22, the average percent changes in CNV lesion area were +38.87% ± 7.08%, +34.19% ± 9.93%, –25.95% ± 3.51%, and –32.69% ± 5.40% for the above corresponding groups. No signs of chronic inflammation and other ocular abnormalities were found.ConclusionsThe aflibercept-DDS was effective in treating CNV lesions for 6 months and is safe, well tolerated, and biocompatible.Translational RelevanceThe proposed DDS is a promising system to reduce IVT injection frequency for anti–vascular endothelial growth factor treatment.
Page Count	14
Journal	Translational Vision Science & Technology
Volume Number	9
PubMed Central reference number	PMC7571288
Issue Number	11
PubMed reference number	33117605
e-ISSN	21642591
DOI	10.1167/tvst.9.11.13
Language	English
Publisher	The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Publisher Date	2020-10-13
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Copyright 2020 The Authors
Subject Keyword	sustained release drug delivery system anti-VEGF treatment laser-induced CNV in vivo safety
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Biomedical Engineering Ophthalmology