Gene regulator may contribute to protein pileup in exfoliation glaucoma

Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.
The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.
Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at OPM.gov.

July 19, 2018

Genetics Glaucoma Immunology

Basic Research

Grantee

In exfoliation glaucoma, a protein dandruff clogs the outflow pathway for the fluid in our eyes.

Scientists have evidence that variants of the same gene that enables us to make connective tissue by crosslinking proteins is associated with this unusual glaucoma.

Now they are looking in human eye tissue at a long piece of RNA that helps control expression of that LOXL1 gene with the idea that it may be a culprit in the destructive pileup of LOXL1 protein inside the eye.

A new, $440,000 grant from the National Eye Institute is helping Dr. Yutao Liu and his colleagues further explore the relationship between the gene and this long, noncoding RNA dubbed lncLOXL1.