Browsing by Subject "Eye Proteins / metabolism"
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Item Characterization of Tear Immunoglobulins in a Small-Cohort of Keratoconus Patients(Springer Nature, 2020-06-10) McKay, Tina B.; Serjersen, Henrik; Hjortdal, Jesper; Zieske, James D.; Karamichos, DimitriosKeratoconus (KC) is classically considered a non-inflammatory condition caused by central corneal thinning that leads to astigmatism and reduced visual acuity. Previous studies have identified increased systemic levels of pro-inflammatory factors, including interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and matrix metalloproteinase-9, suggesting that KC may have an inflammatory component in at least a subset of patients. In this study, we evaluated the levels of different immunoglobulins (light and heavy chains) based on Ig alpha, Ig lambda, Ig kappa, Ig micro, and Ig heavy chain subunits in non-KC tears (n = 7 control individuals) and KC tears (n = 7 KC patients) using tandem-liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. The most abundant Ig heavy chains detected in both control individuals and KC patients were Ig alpha-1 and Ig alpha-2 likely correlating to the higher IgA levels reported in human tears. We identified significant differences in immunoglobulin kappa-chain V-II levels in KC patients compared to control individuals with no significant difference in Ig kappa/Ig lambda ratios or heavy chain levels. Our study supports previous findings suggesting that KC possesses a systemic component that may contribute to the KC pathology. Further studies are required to define causality and establish a role for systemic immune system-dependent factors and pro-inflammatory processes in KC development or progression.Item Glucocorticoid receptor GRbeta regulates glucocorticoid-induced ocular hypertension in mice(Springer Nature, 2018-01-16) Patel, Gaurang C.; Liu, Yang; Millar, J. Cameron; Clark, Abbot F.Prolonged glucocorticoid (GC) therapy can cause GC-induced ocular hypertension (OHT), which if left untreated progresses to iatrogenic glaucoma and permanent vision loss. The alternatively spliced isoform of glucocorticoid receptor GRbeta acts as dominant negative regulator of GR activity, and it has been shown that overexpressing GRbeta in trabecular meshwork (TM) cells inhibits GC-induced glaucomatous damage in TM cells. The purpose of this study was to use viral vectors to selectively overexpress the GRbeta isoform in the TM of mouse eyes treated with GCs, to precisely dissect the role of GRbeta in regulating steroid responsiveness. We show that overexpression of GRbeta inhibits GC effects on MTM cells in vitro and GC-induced OHT in mouse eyes in vivo. Ad5 mediated GRbeta overexpression reduced the GC induction of fibronectin, collagen 1, and myocilin in TM of mouse eyes both in vitro and in vivo. GRbeta also reversed DEX-Ac induced IOP elevation, which correlated with increased conventional aqueous humor outflow facility. Thus, GRbeta overexpression reduces effects caused by GCs and makes cells more resistant to GC treatment. In conclusion, our current work provides the first evidence of the in vivo physiological role of GRbeta in regulating GC-OHT and GC-mediated gene expression in the TM.