Abstract
Purpose :
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mediated by retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells contributes to the pathogenesis of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). We have now examined the effects of oxidant stress on the EMT process in RPE cells.
Methods :
A concentration of 5×105 Human retinal pigment epithelium (ARPE-19) cells were cultured and serum starved for 24 hours. And, the cells were treated with 500μM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for indicated times. The expression of cytokines, several EMT-related factors and markers of epithelial cells were examined by Cytokine Array, RT-PCR, immunoblot, and immunofluorescence analyses.
Results :
Cytokine Array analysis revealed that the abundance of Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was increased after H2O2 treatment. RT-PCR and Immunoblot analysis also showed that the marker of EMT (a-SMA, vimentin) in ARPE-19 were increased after H2O2 treatment. Furthermore, The decreases in the amounts of junctional proteins (ZO-1, E-cadherin) in ARPE-19 by oxidative stress.
Conclusions :
These results suggest that MIF may play an important role in EMT process by oxidative stressed RPE cells. And, the regulation of MIF is effect to junctional proteins in RPE cells. In brief, it is possible that MIF is important key factor in early steps of PVR.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.