1: Pathological processes in aqueous humor due to iris atrophy predispose to early corneal graft failure in humans and mice
Science of the Month - July 2020
Science Advances
2020 May 13;6(20):eaaz5195. Doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5195.
Yamaguchi Takefumi, Higa Kazunari, Yagi-Yaguchi Yukari, Ueda Koji, Noma Hisashi, Shibata Shinsuke, Nagai Toshihiro, Tomida Daisuke, Yasu-Mimura Ririko, Osama Ibrahim, Matoba Ryo, Tsubota Kazuo, Hamrah Pedram, Yamada Jun, Kanekura Kohsuke, Shimazaki Jun
The cornea has immune privilege, and corneal transplantation is considered to have the highest success rate among organ and tissue transplants. However, there is a group of patients with a poor prognosis whose grafts fail quickly after repeated transplants, even without rejection. These are patients with conditions such as dry eye or severe iris atrophy. In a diseased environment where even the patient's own cells cannot survive, leading to blindness, can cells from another person (or future iPS cells) survive long-term? Through multi-omics analysis of clinical samples of aqueous humor and cornea, this study demonstrated that specific pathological conditions—including inflammation, cellular senescence, and glucose metabolism—are present in cases where the cause of poor prognosis was previously unknown. It also proved that a similar phenomenon occurs in mice that spontaneously develop iris atrophy. This research is the result of new multi-omics analyses based on the empirical knowledge gained from over 7,000 corneal transplants performed over 20 years at the Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital. In the future, we aim to elucidate the pathology of "disruption of anterior chamber homeostasis maintained by multiple cell types and the resulting cellular responses" to pave the way for future treatments.
(Jun Shimazaki, 61st Graduating Class; Takefumi Yamaguchi, 81st Graduating Class; Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital)
Other Published Papers
1: Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying brain metastasis of breast cancer.
Cancer and Metastasis Reviews.
May 2020; DOI: 10.1007/s10555-020-09881-y
Hosonaga M, Saya H, Arima Y.