Currently, researchers have identified several mutated genes associated with hereditary eye diseases; however, effective therapeutic options remain scarce. The emergence of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)and its associated proteins(CRISPR-associated proteins, Cas)offers a promising approach for treating these diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 enables precise targeting and modification of specific genetic sequences, allowing for the correction of mutated genes, as well as knockout or replacement of pathogenic genes to achieve therapeutic effects. In ophthalmology, CRISPR/Cas9 has been applied to various hereditary eye disorders, including corneal dystrophy, congenital cataracts, glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa. Additionally, significant progress has been made to utilize CRISPR/Cas9 to develop disease models. Therefore, it has great potential for clinical applications. However, challenges such as delivery efficiency and off-target effects remain. This review summarizes the mechanism of CRISPR/Cas9, its applications in genetic eye diseases and disease models, as well as the existing challenges, aiming to provide new insights for treatment.

Neovascular fundus diseases mainly include neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nAMD)and dia-betic retinopathy(DR).Pathological neovascular leakage and the subsequent retinal detachment are the main causes of se-vere visual impairment.Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)is the first-line treatment for neovascular fundus diseases,but it has shortcomings,such as the need for frequent intravitreal injections and poor patient compliance.With the annually increasing incidence of acquired neovascular fundus diseases like nAMD and DR,there is an urgent need for safer and more long-lasting treatment options.In recent years,the field of gene therapy has advanced rapidly,with thera-peutic strategies mainly involving gene supplementation and editing.The mechanism underlying gene therapy can be suc-cinctly described as the correction of pathological alterations induced by defective genes.This is achieved either by the in-troduction of exogenous functional genes to restore normal cellular processes or by directly editing aberrant genes at the ge-nomic level.Extensive basic and clinical research has demonstrated that gene therapy is both safe and effective.There are dozens of clinical trials on retinal gene therapy being carried out currently,focusing not only on inherited retinal diseases but also on neovascular fundus diseases.In this article,the application of the gene supplementation,clustered regularly in-terspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)and CRISPR-associated protein 9(Cas9)system in the treatment of nAMD and DR is summarized.

Neovascular fundus diseases mainly include neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nAMD)and dia-betic retinopathy(DR).Pathological neovascular leakage and the subsequent retinal detachment are the main causes of se-vere visual impairment.Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)is the first-line treatment for neovascular fundus diseases,but it has shortcomings,such as the need for frequent intravitreal injections and poor patient compliance.With the annually increasing incidence of acquired neovascular fundus diseases like nAMD and DR,there is an urgent need for safer and more long-lasting treatment options.In recent years,the field of gene therapy has advanced rapidly,with thera-peutic strategies mainly involving gene supplementation and editing.The mechanism underlying gene therapy can be suc-cinctly described as the correction of pathological alterations induced by defective genes.This is achieved either by the in-troduction of exogenous functional genes to restore normal cellular processes or by directly editing aberrant genes at the ge-nomic level.Extensive basic and clinical research has demonstrated that gene therapy is both safe and effective.There are dozens of clinical trials on retinal gene therapy being carried out currently,focusing not only on inherited retinal diseases but also on neovascular fundus diseases.In this article,the application of the gene supplementation,clustered regularly in-terspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)and CRISPR-associated protein 9(Cas9)system in the treatment of nAMD and DR is summarized.

Objective: To clinically validate the feasibility and accuracy of cine images acquired through the multitasking method, with no electrocardiogram gating and free-breathing, in measuring left ventricular (LV) function indices by comparing them with those acquired through the balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) method, with multiple breath-holds and electrocardiogram gating. Materials and Methods: Forty-three healthy volunteers (female:male, 30:13; mean age, 23.1 ± 2.3 years) and 36 patients requiring an assessment of LV function for various clinical indications (female:male, 22:14; 57.8 ± 11.3 years) were enrolled in this prospective study. Each participant underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the multiple breath-hold bSSFP method and free-breathing multitasking method. LV function parameters were measured for both MRI methods. Image quality was assessed through subjective image quality scores (1 to 5) and calculation of the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between the myocardium and blood pool. Differences between the two MRI methods were analyzed using the Bland–Altman plot, paired t-test, or Wilcoxon signed-rank test, as appropriate. Results: LV ejection fraction (LVEF) was not significantly different between the two MRI methods (P = 0.222 in healthy volunteers and P = 0.343 in patients). LV end-diastolic mass was slightly overestimated with multitasking in both healthy volunteers (multitasking vs. bSSFP, 60.5 ± 10.7 g vs. 58.0 ± 10.4 g, respectively; P < 0.001) and patients (69.4 ± 18.1 g vs. 66.8 ± 18.0 g, respectively; P = 0.003). Acceptable and comparable image quality was achieved for both MRI methods (multitasking vs. bSSFP, 4.5 ± 0.7 vs. 4.6 ± 0.6, respectively; P = 0.203). The CNR between the myocardium and blood pool showed no significant differences between the two MRI methods (18.89 ± 6.65 vs. 18.19 ± 5.83, respectively; P = 0.480). Conclusion Multitasking-derived cine images obtained without electrocardiogram gating and breath-holding achieved similar image quality and accurate quantification of LVEF in healthy volunteers and patients.

PURPOSE: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed that common variants on or near EDNRA, HDAC9, SOX17, RP1, CDKN2B-AS1, and RBBP8 genes are associated with intracranial aneurysm (IA) in European or Japanese populations. However, due to population heterogeneity, whether these loci are associated with IA pathogenesis in Chinese individuals is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations among GWAS-identified loci and risk of IA in a Chinese population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 765 individuals (including 230 IA patients and 535 controls) were involved in this study. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of candidate loci were genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Associations were analyzed using univariate or multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: SNPs in CDKN2B-AS1 (especially rs10757272) showed significant associations with IA in dominant and additive models [odds ratio (OR), 2.99 and 1.43; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.44–6.24 and 1.10–1.86, respectively]. A SNP near HDAC9 (rs10230207) was associated with IA in the dominant model (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.01–1.99). One SNP near RP1 (rs1072737) showed a protective effect on IA in the dominant model (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.46–0.95), while another SNP in RP1 (rs9298506) showed a risk effect on IA in a recessive model (OR, 3.82; 95% CI, 1.84–7.91). No associations were observed among common variants near EDNRA, SOX17, or RBBP8 and IA. CONCLUSION: These data partially confirmed earlier results and showed that variants in CDKN2B-AS1, RP1, and HDAC9 could be genetic susceptibility factors for IA in a Chinese population.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Logistic Models ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Population Characteristics

In the past decade,based on the “common disease-common variant” hypothesis,genomewide association studies (GWAS) have been extensively used to dissect the genetic components of complex diseases and quantitative traits.However,the identified disease-associated common variants by GWASs can only explain small part of the corresponding disease heritability.“Common disease-rare variant” hypothesis has been proposed to explore the missed heritability.With the development of the next generation sequencing technology,various association studies of less common variants are ongoing.This paper provides an overview of the study designs and statistical tests of these variants.