Gene Expression Profile of Epiretinal Fibrous Membrane Associated with Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a severe vision-threatening disorder characterized by the formation of cicatricial fibrous membranes leading to traction retinal detachment. As the pathophysiology remains unclear, there has been no effective therapeutic approach to date other than vitreoretinal surgery. In order to identify genes associated with the pathogenesis of PVR, we performed gene expression analyses in fibrous membrane in patients with PVR using DNA microarray technology. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Kyushu University Hospital and Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital, and the surgical specimens were handled in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1989 Declaration of Helsinki. All patients gave informed consent before inclusion in the study. Fibrousl membranes were surgically dissected from the retinal surface with horizontal scissors of patients with PVR undergoing pars plana vitrectomy. Total RNA were extracted from the fibrous membranes with three different PVR patients. RNA from human retina was obtained from Clontech (Palo Alto, CA).