Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Ophthalmol.

Sec. Retina

Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fopht.2025.1641194

Intravitreal Panitumumab and Retinal Pigment Epithelium Proliferation in Laser-Induced Retinal Degeneration in Rabbits

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Ufa Eye Research Institute, Ufa, Russia
  • 2Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 3Hopital Rothschild, Paris, France
  • 4Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
  • 5LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
  • 6Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 7The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 8Privatpraxis Prof Jonas und Dr Panda-Jonas, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 9New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Ophthalmology, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Purpose: To examine the effect of intravitreally applied epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor blocker panitumumab on proliferation of retinal pigment epithelium cells (RPE) in an experimental model of localized retinal degeneration. Methods: The experimental study included rabbits with an age of 2 to 3 months and a body weight of 2.5 to -3 kg and which were randomly distributed into a study group and control group. The right eyes received two retinal argon laser coagulation spots (500 mWatt; diameter:100μm; duration:0.5s), applied with an interval of two minutes at the same location close to the vascular streak in the posterior fundus region. Five times in two-day intervals, the rabbits of the study group received intravitreal injections of 1 mg panitumumab (0.10 mL) and the rabbits of the control group intravitreal injections of 0.10 mL Ringer´s solution. At baseline, at each time point of re-examination, and at study end, the animals were examined by fundus photography and optical coherence tomography of the laser spot. Results: The study included 19 rabbits (study group: 10 animals; control group: 9 animals). After the third injection and at study end, the laser-induced area of depigmentation+hyperpigmentation combined did not vary significantly between the study group and control group (1.43±0.63 mm2 versus 1.63±0.77 mm2; P=0.56; and 1.37±0.63 mm2 versus 1.61±0.74 mm2; P=0.46, respectively). At the same time points, the area with hyperpigmentation was significantly smaller in the study group than control group (0.16±0.15 mm2 versus 0.80±0.59 mm2; P=0.01; and 0.14±0.14 mm2 versus 0.70±0.56 mm2; P=0.02, respectively). At the same time points, the ratio of the hyperpigmented area to the combined depigmented+hyperpigmented area was significantly smaller in the study group than control group (0.11±0.09 versus 0.43±0.19mm2; P<0.001; and 0.10±0.08 versus 0.35±0.23mm2; P=0.006, respectively)Conclusions: These findings indicate that intravitreally administered panitumumab was associated with reduced subretinal hyperpigmentation in a laser-induced model of retinal injury. While this may reflect a modulation of the RPE response, including potential suppression of RPE proliferation, further studies incorporating histological and molecular analyses are warranted to confirm its effect on subretinal fibrosis.

Keywords: Panitumumab, Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor, Macular Degeneration, Retinal Pigment Epithelium, Macular scar, Intravitreal medication

Received: 04 Jun 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Bikbov, Kazakbaeva, Panda-Jonas, Valishin, Nizamutdinova and Jonas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jost B Jonas, Hopital Rothschild, Paris, France

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.