Investigation of the onset mechanism of pterygium and the development of its preventive medicine

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25861658
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Ophthalmology
Research Institution	Kanazawa Medical University
Principal Investigator	SHIBATA Naoko 金沢医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (20534647)
Project Period (FY)	2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
Keywords	翼状片 / DNAマイクロアレイ / ＭＭＰ９ / ＫＲＴ２４ / DNAマイクロアレイ解析 / 初代ヒト角膜上皮細胞 / 初代ヒト結膜線維芽細胞 / ＤＮＡマイクロアレイ解析 / 上皮間葉系移行 / 酸化ストレス / 血管新生
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Pterygium is a wing shaped fibrovascular growth on the ocular surface causing visual loss and effective medication has not been found yet. Pterygium formation is induced by various chronic inflammatory conditions, such as ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure. In this study, we found that Keratin 24 (KRT24) and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9) were highly upregulated in pterygium tissues using DNA microarray analysis. UV-B treatment induced the upregulation of the expression of KRT24 and MMP9 in human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC) and human conjunctival fibroblast (HCF). In conclusion, UV radiation may promote the modulation of these pterygium related genes such as KRT234 and MMP9, and may induce the initiation and progression of human pterygium. Suppression of these genes may protect the development of pterygium.