Comparative quantification of plasma TDRD7 mRNA in cataract patients by real-time PCR

Poster Details

First Author: J.Koh SOUTH KOREA

Co Author(s):    Y. Yang              

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To evaluate the usefulness of plasma TDRD7 mRNA in differentiating cataracts from normal condition by quantitatively analyzing human peripheral blood.

Setting:

Comparative cross-sectional study./ Plasma RNA was extracted from 40 patients with cataracts, 30 normal controls.

Methods:

The objects were asked whether they had hypertension or diabetes, and the type and degree of cataracts were investigated via ophthalmologic examination. Blood cholesterol and fasting glucose were measured after taking blood from a vein, and the RNA extracted from the sample was synthesized into cDNA. After PCR, the results were compared after quantifying the TDRD7 mRNA using ABL1 mRNA for normalization. We analyzed the relative gene expression data via the ??Ct method.

Results:

Although the total cholesterol and fasting glucose levels of the cataract patients were higher than those of the control group members, they were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The normalized 2-??Ct of plasma TDRD7 mRNA based on ABL1 mRNA was 1.52±0.63 in the case of the control group and 1.05±0.34 in the case of the cataract patients, and the TDRD7 expression level of the cataract patients was statistically significantly lower than that of the control group(p=0.048). The result of comparing the genetic values of different types of cataract demonstrated that the TDRD7 expression level of the cortical type and mixed type were lower than those of the nuclear type and posterior subcapsular opacity type; these differences were statistically significant (p=0.017). The results of measuring the TDRD7 gene expression level of the control group members of different ages showed that there is no statistically significant correlation between the two variables (p=0.785).

Conclusions:

This study is significant in that it is the first study which has established the relationship between the TDRD7 gene and cataracts using peripheral blood. In conclusion, we can assert that human cataracts and the TDRD7 gene mutation are strongly causally related, as the expression level of plasma TDRD7 mRNA in patients with cataracts was statistically significantly lower than in the normal control group. Plasma TDRD7 mRNA levels may prove useful as a potential marker for cataracts. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE?: No