A Bio-functional Polymer That Prevents Retinal Scarring Through Modulation of NRF2 Signalling Pathway

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 May 19

PMID 35589753

Authors

Bhav Harshad Parikh

Zengping Liu

Paul Blakeley

Qianyu Lin

Malay Singh

Jun Yi Ong

Kim Han Ho

Joel Weijia Lai

Hanumakumar Bogireddi

Kim Chi Tran

Jason Y C Lim

Kun Xue

Abdurrahmaan Al-Mubaarak

Binxia Yang

Sowmiya R

Kakkad Regha

Daniel Soo Lin Wong

Queenie Shu Woon Tan

Zhongxing Zhang

Anand D Jeyasekharan

Veluchamy Amutha Barathi

Weimiao Yu

Kang Hao Cheong

Timothy A Blenkinsop

Walter Hunziker

Gopal Lingam

Xian Jun Loh

Xinyi Su

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

One common cause of vision loss after retinal detachment surgery is the formation of proliferative and contractile fibrocellular membranes. This aberrant wound healing process is mediated by epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and hyper-proliferation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Current treatment relies primarily on surgical removal of these membranes. Here, we demonstrate that a bio-functional polymer by itself is able to prevent retinal scarring in an experimental rabbit model of proliferative vitreoretinopathy. This is mediated primarily via clathrin-dependent internalisation of polymeric micelles, downstream suppression of canonical EMT transcription factors, reduction of RPE cell hyper-proliferation and migration. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 signalling pathway was identified in a genome-wide transcriptomic profiling as a key sensor and effector. This study highlights the potential of using synthetic bio-functional polymer to modulate RPE cellular behaviour and offers a potential therapy for retinal scarring prevention.

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