Comparing lens epithelium gene expression profiles between highly myopic and emmetropic eyes

Clinical observations suggest increased size of lens in highly myopic subjects compared with emmetropic subjects. The layer of anterior lens epithelial cell membrane, being the most metabolically active part of the lens, can be easily acquired during standard lens surgery and is an ideal sample to study the gene expression difference between lens of different populations. In this study, to investigate the possible molecular mechanisms underlying different features of lens between highly myopic and emmetropic subjects, gene expression profiling of lens epithelia of corresponding population was conducted. Comparative microarray analysis of lens epithelia from three human highly myopic eyes and three emmetropic control eyes acquired during lens surgery was performed using HG-U133 Plus 2.0 Array (Affymetrix, USA).