Feasibility of detecting RNA expression in human vitreous

Abstract

Purpose : Vitreoretinal conditions are often due to a complex interplay of risk factors and molecular events that have not been well elucidated. Understanding these molecular pathways may lead to improved treatment algorithms for patients.

Methods : We aim to qualitatively identify known markers for diabetes: vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in human vitreous specimen from patients at the University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction, reverse transcription, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction for VEGF, IL-6, and MCP-1 were performed in triplicate at a later date.

Results : Five vitreous specimens from proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients and 10 with vitreous opacities (VO) or epiretinal membrane (ERM) were analyzed. RNA expression of VEGF, IL-6, MCP-1 was higher in eyes with PDR in comparison with VO and ERM.

Conclusions : This study shows that RNA isolation from human vitreous samples is feasible. Qualitatively, we demonstrate increased expression of genes known to play a part in pathogenesis of patients with PDR.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.