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. 2019 Dec 26;116(52):26280-26287.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1902292116. Epub 2019 Dec 23.

The primate model for understanding and restoring vision

Serge Picaud  1 , Deniz Dalkara  1 , Katia Marazova  1 , Olivier Goureau  1 , Botond Roska  2   3   4 , José-Alain Sahel  1   5   6   7
Affiliations

The primate model for understanding and restoring vision

Serge Picaud et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Retinal degenerative diseases caused by photoreceptor cell death are major causes of irreversible vision loss. As only primates have a macula, the nonhuman primate (NHP) models have a crucial role not only in revealing biological mechanisms underlying high-acuity vision but also in the development of therapies. Successful translation of basic research findings into clinical trials and, moreover, approval of the first therapies for blinding inherited and age-related retinal dystrophies has been reported in recent years. This article explores the value of the NHP models in understanding human vision and reviews their contribution to the development of innovative therapeutic strategies to save and restore vision.

Keywords: macaque; nonhuman primate; retinal diseases; vision; vision restoration.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interest statement: K.M. and O.G. declare no competing interests. D.D. has received grants and personal fees from GenSight Biologics and is coinventor on patent 9193956 (Adeno-associated virus virions with variant capsid and methods of use thereof), with royalties paid to Avalanche Biotechnologies. J.-A.S. is a consultant (with no consulting fee) for Pixium Vision, GenSight Biologics, and SparingVision and has personal financial interests in Pixium Vision, GenSight Biologics, Prophesee, and Chronolife. B.R. is chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of GenSight Biologics. S.P. is a consultant for Pixium Vision and GenSight Biologics and has personal financial interests in Pixium Vision, GenSight Biologics, and ICONEUS.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Anatomy of the rodent and primate eye. (Upper) Gross anatomy of the mouse, macaque, and human eyes with their corresponding axial lengths. (Middle) Fundus and OCT images of the back of the eye in each species. (Lower) Adaptive optics images of rod and cone-dominated regions of the primate retina. Image courtesy of D.D., Kate Grieve (artist), and Céline Jaillard (artist).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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