Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 125, Issue 9, September 2018, Pages 1344-1353
Ophthalmology

Original article
Determinants of Outcomes of Adenoviral Keratoconjunctivitis

Presented in part at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, 2015; Ophthalmology Microbiology and Immunology Group Annual Meeting, October 2016, Chicago, Illinois.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2018.02.016Get rights and content

Purpose

To determine host and pathogen factors predictive of outcomes in a large clinical cohort with keratoconjunctivitis.

Design

Retrospective analyses of the clinical and molecular data from a randomized, controlled, masked trial for auricloscene for keratoconjunctivitis (NVC-422 phase IIB, NovaBay; clinicaltrials.gov identifier, NCT01877694).

Participants

Five hundred participants from United States, India, Brazil, and Sri Lanka with clinical diagnosis of keratoconjunctivitis and positive rapid test results for adenovirus.

Methods

Clinical signs and symptoms and bilateral conjunctival swabs were obtained on days 1, 3, 6, 11, and 18. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis was performed to detect and quantify adenovirus in all samples. Regression models were used to evaluate the association of various variables with keratoconjunctivitis outcomes. Time to resolution of each symptom or sign was assessed by adenoviral species with Cox regression.

Main Outcome Measures

The difference in composite scores of clinical signs between days 1 and 18, mean visual acuity change between days 1 and 18, and time to resolution of each symptom or sign.

Results

Of 500 participants, 390 (78%) showed evidence of adenovirus by PCR. Among adenovirus-positive participants, adenovirus D species was most common (63% of total cases), but a total of 4 species and 21 different types of adenovirus were detected. Adenovirus D was associated with more severe signs and symptoms, a higher rate of subepithelial infiltrate development, and a slower decline in viral load compared with all other adenovirus species. The clinical courses of all patients with non–adenovirus D species infection and adenovirus-negative keratoconjunctivitis were similar. Mean change in visual acuity between days 1 and 18 was a gain of 1.9 letters; worse visual outcome was associated with older age.

Conclusions

A substantial proportion of keratoconjunctivitis is not associated with a detectable adenovirus. The clinical course of those with adenovirus D keratoconjunctivitis is significantly more severe than those with non–adenovirus D species infections or adenovirus-negative keratoconjunctivitis; high viral load at presentation and non-United States origin of participants is associated with poorer clinical outcome.

Section snippets

Participants and Procedures

Participants were recruited at 58 ophthalmology centers in United States, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and India. Informed consent was obtained, and the work complied with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Institutional review board approval for this study was obtained, and the research adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki (US: Goodwin IRB (Cincinnati, OH); India: Drug Controller General (DCGI) with local Ethics committees; Sri Lanka: Scientific and Ethical Review,

Demographic Characteristics of the Participants and Distribution of Adenoviral Species and Types

Participants were recruited from the United States (n = 111), India (n = 200), Sri Lanka (n = 84), and Brazil (n = 103) were randomized to auriclosene or vehicle arm at a 1:1 ratio (Table 1). Mean age was 35 years (range, 1–90 years) and 290 were male (58%); 428 participants (86%) completed 18 days of follow-up. Participants from India (18%; n = 35) and Brazil (27%; n = 27) had the highest rate of missing the day 18 visit. In contrast, less than 5% of participants from United States and Sri

Discussion

In this large study of keratoconjunctivitis, several findings were notable. First, we found an unexpected diversity of types and species associated with keratoconjunctivitis, particularly in the United States compared with other parts of the world. Second, we found that a substantial proportion of keratoconjunctivitis cases do not seem to be associated with a detectable adenovirus. Third, we found that the outcomes of adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis depended on the species. Specifically,

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Jiaqi Yin, PhD, and Hyunju Son, MA, for their assistance with statistical analyses and all the investigators who contributed to the study.

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    Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have made the following disclosure(s): A.Y.L.: Financial support – Novartis, Microsoft

    D.S.: Employee – NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

    K.N-T.: Employee – NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

    S.K.: Employee – Viracor Eurofins Clinical Diagnostics

    A.W.: Consultant – Aicuris, Amgen, Merck, GSK; Financial support – Genocea, Vical, Admedus; Royalties – Uptodate

    Supported by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant nos.: K23EY02492, P30EY001730, and R21EY027453, and K24 AI071113 [A.W.]); the Latham Vision Science Innovation Award, Seattle, Washington (C.S.L.); Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York (C.S.L., A.Y.L., R.N.V.G.); the Mark J. Daily, MD, Research Fund (R.N.V.G.). The University of Washington received a research grant from NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Emeryville, California. The sponsor or funding organization participated in the design, conduct, and data collection of the trial (NV-422 phase IIB, NovaBay; clinicaltrials.gov identifier, NCT01877694). However, they had no role in the design or conduct of the research presented on the manuscript.

    HUMAN SUBJECTS: Human subjects were included in this study. The institutional review board approved the study (US: Goodwin IRB (Cincinnati, OH); India: Drug Controller General (DCGI) with local Ethics committees; Sri Lanka: Scientific and Ethical Review, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Brazil: National Ethics Committee in Research (CONEP) plus local ethic committees), and informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all patients. The study was performed in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and complied with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act of 1996.

    No animal subjects were used in this study.

    Author Contributions:

    Conception and design: C.S.Lee, Akileswaran, Stroman, Najafi-Tagol, Kleiboeker, Wald, Van Gelder

    Analysis and interpretation: C.S.Lee, A.Y.Lee, Stroman, Najafi-Tagol, Kleiboeker, Chodosh, Magaret, Wald, Van Gelder

    Data collection: C.S.Lee, A.Y.Lee, Akileswaran, Stroman, Najafi-Tagol, Kleiboeker, Magaret, Wald, Van Gelder

    Obtained funding: None

    Overall responsibility: C.S.Lee

    Supplemental material available at www.aaojournal.org.

    A complete list of contact research organizations and principal investigators of BAYnovation Study Group are listed in the Appendix, available at www.aaojournal.org.

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