Functional Study Of NDRG2 And MRG15 In Age-related Catatact

ObjectiveIt is well known that age-related cataract (ARC) is the leading cause of blindness and responsible for just under half of all blindness worldwide. The incidence of ARC will increase as the percentage of older people increases. Nearly normal visual function could be restored by cataract surgery with the use of an intraocular lens, but there is no confirmed method to prevent cataract formation, and the cost of treating cataracts brings a heavy burden to the financial of all the countries. Therefore, the mechanism study of ARC is not only a significant subject of biomedicine, but also beneficial for the whole society.NDRG2, a novel gene associated with cell proliferation and differentiation, is discovered and successfully cloned by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in our university. It is suggested that NDRG2 maybe contribute to ARC, for its involvement in aging process. MRG15 is one of the important differentially expressed genes in the lens epithelium between ARC and the normal lenses, identified by our lab through the improved subtractive hybridization. Here, in order to investigate the associated functions of NDRG2 and MRG15 in ARC, we will confirm the differential expression of NDRG2 and MRG15, observe their responses to oxidative stress, and examine the functional changes of cultured human lens epithelial cells under the condition of the overexpression or...