Gene expression profiling of holoclones from limbus, conjunctiva and oral mucosa

The research of a specific oral mucosa epithelial marker was performed by microarray analysis of holoclones derived from cornea, conjunctiva and oral mucosa tissues. The results identified SOX2 and PAX6 as positive and negative markers to assess the presence (or absence) of oral epithelium onto the ocular surface. Holoclones were isolated from the culture of biopsy from 2 donors of conjunctiva, 2 donors of limbus and 2 donors of oral mucosa and total cellular RNA was extracted. GEP was performed using Affymetrix platform and data were processed by means of Partek Genomics Suite Software.