Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of photoreceptor cell apoptosis and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell atrophy caused by gene mutation. The clinical manifestations are night blindness, peripheral visual field loss and progressive vision loss. RPE cell apoptosis plays an important role in the progression of RP, and exogenous implantation of RPE cells as an alternative therapy has shown certain efficacy in animal experiments and clinical trials. With the diversification of cell sources, the update of surgical techniques and the continuous emergence of biological materials, more possibilities and hopes are provided for cell therapy. To further promote the development of this field in the future, it is still necessary to strengthen the cooperation between medicine, bioengineering and other disciplines in the future to jointly promote the innovation and development of therapeutic methods. It is believed that RPE cell transplantation therapy will show a brighter prospect in the future
ObjectiveTo observe the relationship between the response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug treatment and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). MethodsA retrospective clinical study. From August 2019 to September 2020, 103 eyes of 103 wAMD patients diagnosed in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital were included in the study. Among them, there were 59 males (57.28%, 59/103) and 44 females (42.72%, 44/103); the average age was 68.74±7.74 years. The standard logarithmic visual acuity chart was used to detect the Best Corrected Visual Acuity of the affected eye and converted to the logarithmic minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity during statistics. Optical coherence tomography was used to detect the central retinal thickness (CRT) of the affected eye. At the same time, the patient's high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was tested. All eyes were treated with intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drugs once a month for 3 months. Before the initial treatment, peripheral venous blood from the patient were collected. Interleukin-8 (IL-8), complement C3 gene (C3), complement factor H (CFH), liver lipase (LIPC), cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP), ATP binding cassette subfamily a member 1 (ABCA1), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), fatty acid desaturation gene cluster (FADS1) SNP. According to gene frequency, genotypes are divided into wild type and mutant type were detected. Qualitative data such as the frequency difference of the genotype distribution in the clinical phenotype and the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of the genotype distribution were compared with the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. ResultsThere were fewer CRT responders in IL-8 rs4073 mutant (TA+AA) patients than wild-type (TT) [odds ratio (OR)=0.310, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.106-0.910, P＜0.05). Among them, after the drug stratification test, the proportion of patients with IL-8 rs4073 locus TT genotype in the conbercept treatment group was less CRT non-responders (OR=0.179, 95% CI=0.034-0.960, P=0.033). Patients with LIPC rs2043085 mutant (CT+TT) with BCVA increased ≥0.2 logMAR are more likely than wild-type (CC) (OR=3.031, 95% CI 1.036-8.867, P＜0.05); HDL-C level was significantly lower Compared with wild type (CC), the difference was statistically significant (t=2.448, P=0.016). There was no significant difference in logMAR BCVA and CRT between IL-8 rs4073, LIPC rs2043085 mutant and wild-type patients before treatment (IL-8 rs4073: Z=－0.198, －1.651; P=0.843, 0.099; LIPC rs2043085: Z=－0.532, －0.152; P=0.595, 0.879). C3 rs 225066, CFH rs800292, CETP rs708272, ABCA1 rs1883025, FADS1 rs174547, LPL rs12678919 have no correlation with anti-VEGF drug treatment response. Conclusions Patients with wAMD are treated with anti-VEGF drugs. Those with IL-8 rs4073 locus A genotype may be less responsive to CRT. LIPC rs2043085 locus T genotypes may be relatively more responsive to BCVA.
ObjectiveTo observe clinical phenotypes and analyze the pathogenic genes of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). MethodsA retrospective clinical study. From 2019 to 2020, 2 patients diagnosed with LCA by genetic testing in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital and their 6 unaffected family members were enrolled in the study. Two patients were from 2 unrelated families, both were probands. The patient's medical history was inquired in detail, slit lamp microscopy, ultra-widefield fundus photography, autofluorescence, and flash visual evoked potential (F-VEP) were performed. Peripheral vein blood (3-5 ml) was collected and genomic DNA was extracted from all study subjects. A total of 381 pathogetic genes associated with inherited retinal diseases, were selected by targeted exome sequencing capture strategy. Sanger sequencing was used to verify suspected pathogenic mutations. Candidate pathogenic mutations were identified after bioinformatics analysis. Sanger sequencing, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and family co-identification were used to confirm the final mutations. ResultsTwo patients were male, aged 3 and 27 years. One case had vision loss in both eyes, accompanied by nystagmus and acupressure eye sign since childhood. The clinical hallmark of the proband (F1-Ⅱ-3) in F1 includes clearly boundary of optic disc, normal retinal blood vessels and macular fovea. The implied period of the maximum forward wave in both eyes of F-VEP was roughly normal, and its amplitude decreased significantly. The phenotype of the proband (F2-Ⅱ-1) in F2 includes optic nerve head pallor, bone-spicule intraretinal pigmentation, “gold-foil maculopathy”, retina patchy hypo-autofluorescence in both eyes. There was no abnormal phenotype in the eyes of the family members. According to the genetic diagnosis, the proband (F1-Ⅱ-3) carried the GUCY2D gene c.835G>A (p.D279N) (M1) and exon 9-19 deletion (M2) compound heterozygous mutations, in which M1 was derived from healthy mother and M2 was derived from healthy father. The proband (F2-Ⅱ-1) carried CRB1 gene c.1576C>T(R526X) (M3) and c.1522T>C (C508R) (M4) compound heterozygous mutations, in which M3 from the healthy father, M4 from the healthy mother. M2 and M4 were novel mutations. ConclusionGUCY2D gene mutations lead to LCA1 type in the F1 family, CRB1 gene mutations lead to LCA8 type in the F2 family; there are significant different phenotypes caused by different pathogenic genes.
ObjectiveTo observe the effect of interleukin-8 (IL-8) on the adhesion and migration of retinal vascular endothelial cells (RCEC). MethodsA cell experiment. Human RCEC (hRCEC) was divided into normal control group (N group), advanced glycation end product (AGE) treatment group (AGE group), and AGE-induced combined IL-8 antagonist SB225002 treatment group (AGE+SB group). The effect of AGE on IL-8 expression in hRCEC was observed by Western blot. The effect of SB225002 on hRCEC migration was observed by cell scratch assay. The effects of SB225002 on leukocyte adhesion and reactive oxygen species (ROS) on hRCEC were detected by flow cytometry. Student-t test was performed between the two groups. One-way analysis of variance was performed among the three groups. ResultsCompared with group N, the expression level of IL-8 in cells of AGE group was significantly increased, with statistical significance (t=25.661, P＜0.001). Compared with N group and AGE+SB group, cell mobility in AGE group was significantly increased (F=29.776), leukocyte adhesion number was significantly increased (F=38.159, 38.556), ROS expression level was significantly increased (F=22.336), and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). ConclusionIL-8 antagonist SB225002 may down-regulate hRCEC adhesion and migration by inhibiting ROS expression.