Mechanical Strain of Corneal Epithelium Influences the Expression of Genes Implicated in Keratoconus.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Although mechanical injury to the cornea (e.g. chronic eye rubbing) is a known risk factor for keratoconus progression, how it contributes to loss of corneal integrity is not known. Here, we set out to determine how eye rubbing can influence keratoconus progression by exploring the expression of known disease markers in mechanically stressed corneal epithelial cells.

Methods

To explore the effects of mechanical stress on the expression of genes implicated in keratoconus (e.g. WNT10A, COL12A1, and TGFB1), we measured their expression using an in vitro model that simulates eye rubbing by cyclic stretching of an immortalized human corneal epithelial cell line (hTCEpi) for 16 hours. We further examined the influence of WNT10A expression in hTCEpi cells using loss-of-func

SUBMITTER: Moon L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11758933 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature