Abstract
Purpose :
The adult stem cells for the trabecular meshwork (TM) are located in the anterior non-filtering region of TM. The aim of the study is to identify the miRNAs as molecular regulators associated with maintenance of stemness in human TM stem cells.
Methods :
The filtering and non-filtering regions of human TM were dissected from three fresh donor whole globes. RNA was isolated using trizol and the quality was assessed by Qubit and Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100-pico chip. MiRNA profiling was carried out on Nanostring nCounter SPRINT. The differentially expressed miRNAs were identified using nSolver and the targets were predicted using mirDIP5.2. Gene ontology and pathway analysis were performed using DAVID.
Results :
Analysis of differentially expressed miRNAs identified 26 significantly upregulated miRNAs and three downregulated miRNAs in the non-filtering region of TM with fold change >+1.2. For the identified miRNAs, 4748 targets were predicted. The targets of the up regulated miRNAs were predicted to be associated with MAPK, Wnt, PI3K-AKT, Hippo, HIF and FOXO signalling pathways known to play important role in the maintenance of stemness.
Conclusions :
MiRNA expression profiling identified miRNAs specific to the non-filtering region of TM, where the stem cells are located. Further studies are required to validate their targets in relation to regulation of TM stem cells.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.