Myocilin regulates cell proliferation and survival by activating the ERK pathway

Myocilin, a causative gene for open-angle glaucoma, encodes a secreted glycoprotein of unknown function. To elucidate its function(s), we produced a stably transfected HEK293 cell line expressing myocilin and compared the expression profiles between the myocilin-expressing cell line and a vector control cell line using Affymetrix GeneChip U133 plus 2.0 array. A significant portion of differentially-expressed genes in the myocilin-expressing cells was associated with cell growth and cell death, suggesting that myocilin may have an important role regulating cell growth/survival.. We developed vector control and myocilin-expressing Tet On HEK293 cell lines. The gene expression profiles in two stable cell lines were compared.