Association of hsa-mir-328-3p Expression in Whole Blood With Optical Density of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells.
AIM
To investigate the association of the pair box 6 gene (PAX6) and hsa-miR-328-3p with optical density of macular pigment.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
We evaluated 112 individuals (34 with moderate myopia, eight with high-degree myopia, and 70 healthy individuals). The optical density of macular pigment was measured using single-wavelength reflectometry. DNA and RNA were extracted from whole blood samples. Expression of hsa-miR-328-3p and genotyping of single-nucleotide polymorphism of PAX6 (rs662702) were performed using Applied Biosystems 7900HT real-time polymerase chain reaction system. Optical density of retinal pigment epithelial cells was evaluated using Fundus plus camera.


RESULTS
In the group with myopia, with increasing ∆Ct hsa-miR-328-3p, the median optical density of the retinal pigment epithelium decreased statistically significantly (p<0.032). No statistically significant association was found between SNP rs662702 genotype variant of the PAX6 gene and the optical density of the retinal pigment epithelium.


CONCLUSION
The increased expression of hsa-miR-328-3p in the blood indicates a decrease in the optical density of the retinal pigment epithelium in those with myopia.
['Kunceviciene|Edita|E|', 'Budiene|Brigita|B|', 'Smalinskiene|Alina|A|', 'Vilkeviciute|Alvita|A|', 'Liutkeviciene|Rasa|R|']
D004847:Epithelial Cells D006801:Humans D035683:MicroRNAs D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium D012168:Retinal Pigments
hsa-miR-328-3p optical density retinal pigment epithelial cell PAX6 myopia