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The Cutting Edge

Molecular Changes in Cells of Eye’s Lens Predict Future Cataracts

Molecular Changes in Cells of Eye’s Lens Predict Future Cataracts

 

To learn how cataracts start, UCLA researchers Suraj Bhat, PhD, professor of ophthalmology at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute, and David Elashoff, PhD, professor of biostatistics and internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, created an animal model for a type of hereditary cataract that occurs in infants and young children. The team introduced genetic mutations for the human disease into mice and analyzed gene activity in each animal’s developing lens, one cell at a time.

Cataracts cloud the lens of the eye, blocking the transmission of light and impairing vision, particularly in the aging eye. Children can be born with the condition, or a cataract may develop after eye injuries, inflammation and other eye diseases. Surgical removal is the only solution. According to the World Health Organization, cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness and are responsible for 51 percent of world blindness. By 2050, the number of Americans with cataracts is expected to double from 24.4 million to nearly 50 million, according to the National Eye Institute.

Drs. Bhat and Elashoff uncovered molecular changes that occurred before the cataract became visible in the developing eye, suggesting a new biomarker for future disease. The UCLA findings deepen the understanding of how a cataract starts at the molecular level and reveal how disrupted gene activity could precede the disease.

— Elaine Schmidt

 

“Transcriptional Profiling of Single Fiber Cells in a Transgenic Paradigm of an Inherited Childhood Cataract Reveals Absence of Molecular Heterogeneity,” Journal of Biological Chemistry, September 13, 2019


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Winter 2020

Winter 2020
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IN THIS ISSUE
  • Lessons from Sherm
  • Father’s X Chromosome May Yield Clues to Higher Rates of Autoimmune Disease in Women
  • Researchers Create Accurate Model of Organ Scarring
  • Biomarker Predicts Which Heart-failure Patients at Higher Risk of Death within One-to-three Years
  • Targeted Therapy Drug Extends Lives of Women with Aggressive Breast Cancer
  • Can a “Battery Leak” Trigger the Onset of Type 2 Diabetes?
  • Molecular Changes in Cells of Eye’s Lens Predict Future Cataracts
  • UCLA Addresses Increasing Demand with New Master’s in Genetic Counseling
  • Truth Seeker
  • Sherm
  • Repairing and Reversing Damage Caused by Huntington’s Disease
  • Cells’ Mitochondria Work Much Like Tesla Battery Packs
  • The Who and Friends Rock Private Show for UCLA Health and Teen Cancer America
  • A Confounding Case
  • Body Image Concerns Are Universal
  • “We Do Better with Diversity”
  • Annual UCLA Health System Board Meeting Turns Its Focus to Cardiac Care
  • UCLA Operation Mend Cheered on at New York City Veterans Day Parade
  • A Decade in Review: 7 Exciting Health Care Breakthroughs
  • MRI May Help Doctors Differentiate Causes of Memory Loss
  • On the Road to Health Care Equality
  • Learning To Listen
  • Photo Synthesis
  • Awards & Honors
  • In Memoriam
  • David Geffen Adds $46 Million to Landmark Medical Scholarships Program
  • Nearly 2,000 Guests Attend Party on the Pier for UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital
  • Golden Visionary Ball Raises More than $1 Million for UCLA Neurosurgery
  • Dr. Hans Gritsch Named Inaugural Chair in Kidney Transplantation
  • Nonprofit Heart of the Brain Fuels the Fight against Brain Cancer
  • UCLA Supporters Raise Money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
  • Dancing for NED Fundraiser Fights Ovarian Cancer
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