Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

Genetics and clinical characteristics of keratoconus.

Authors: Glavač, Damjan; Hawlina, Marko; Ravnik-Glavač, Metka; Stražišar, Mojca; Štabuc-Šilih, Mirna;

Genetics and clinical characteristics of keratoconus.

Abstract

Keratoconus (KC) is a bilateral, non-inflammatory, and progredient corneal ectasia that mostly occurs as a sporadic disorder, but it has long been recognized that a significant minority of patients also exhibit a family history. In recent years several candidate genes such as VSX1 and SOD1 have been proposed, and some disease-causing mutations have been identified. Lately research has also focused on collagen genes, especially those that are differentially expressed in KC cornea. Alterations in COL4A3 and COL4A4 genes may be responsible for decreases in collagen types I and III, a feature often detected in KC. To investigate the role of all four genes in 113 Slovenian patients with sporadic or familial keratoconus, DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction amplification, and sequencing of both genes were performed. No disease-causing mutations were found, but two previously identified single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified (A128A and 627+23G>A) in the VSX1 gene. D326Y in COL4A3 and M1237V and F1644F in COL4A4 were also found to be significantly associated with KC patients. The absence of pathogenic mutations in VSX1, SOD1, COL4A3, and COL4A4 genes in our large number of unrelated keratoconus patients indicates that other genetic factors are involved in the development of this disorder; nevertheless, a significant correlation of a few polymorphisms indicates that there could be a link between specific polymorphisms and KC disease.

Country
Slovenia
Keywords

Adult, Collagen Type IV, Homeodomain Proteins, Male, Polymorphism, Genetic, Superoxide Dismutase, Slovenia, Middle Aged, Keratoconus, Autoantigens, Superoxide Dismutase-1, Mutation, Humans, Female, Eye Proteins, Aged

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    33
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Top 10%
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
33
Top 10%
Top 10%
Top 10%
Upload OA version
Are you the author of this publication? Upload your Open Access version to Zenodo!
It’s fast and easy, just two clicks!