RETRACTED ARTICLE: Role of oxidative stress in Retinitis pigmentosa: new involved pathways by an RNA-Seq analysis

Abstract

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a very heterogeneous inherited ocular disorder group characterized by progressive retinal disruption. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration, due to oxidative stress which arrests the metabolic support to photoreceptors, represents one of the principal causes of RP. Here, the role of oxidative stress in RP onset and progression was analyzed by a comparative whole transcriptome analysis of human RPE cells, treated with 100 µg/ml of oxLDL and untreated, at different time points. Experiment was thrice repeated and performed on Ion Proton TM sequencing system. Data analysis, including low quality reads trimming and gene expression quantification, was realized by CLC Genomics Workbench software. The whole analysis highlighted 14 clustered "macro-pathways" and many sub-pathways, classified by selection of 5271 genes showing the highest alteration of expression. Among them, 23 genes were already known to be RP causative ones (15 over-expressed and 8 down-expressed), and their enrichment and intersection analyses highlighted new 77 candidate related genes (49 over-expressed and 28 down-expressed). A final filtering analysis then highlighted 29 proposed candidate genes. This data suggests that many new genes, not yet associated with RP, could influence its etiopathogenesis.

Transcriptome Analyses of lncRNAs in A2E-Stressed Retinal Epithelial Cells Unveil Advanced Links between Metabolic Impairments Related to Oxidative Stress and Retinitis Pigmentosa

“…Oxidative stress is considered one of the most significant biochemical pathways involved in RP etiopathogenesis, especially targeting the high metabolic demand of RPE cells. Metabolic dysfunctions (e.g., ceramide synthesis [74]) and impairment of high energy processes as life-long light illumination or physiological phagocytosis could determine pathological modifications in blood-retinal barrier (BRB) and in other extracellular matrix molecules, leading to photoreceptor outer segments (POSs) processing inhibition and RPE cells apoptosis [75,76].…”

Intravitreal Delivery of Melatonin Is Protective Against the Photoreceptor Loss in Mice: A Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Degenerative Retinopathy

“…underlying photoreceptor degeneration might afford an alternative therapeutic target (Sancho-Pelluz et al, 2008). For instance, excessive oxidative stress contributes to the photoreceptor degeneration with variable etiologic backgrounds (Tsuruma et al, 2012;Narayan et al, 2016;Donato et al, 2019). This is the rationality to build the therapeutic strategy on antioxidants.…”

Effects of A2E-Induced Oxidative Stress on Retinal Epithelial Cells: New Insights on Differential Gene Response and Retinal Dystrophies

“…Oxidative stress, recently defined as "a state where oxidative forces exceed the antioxidant systems due to loss of the balance between them", represents one of the principal inductors of lifestyle-related and genetic diseases [1]. Among them, retinal dystrophies and, in particular, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the subgroup of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are well known to be susceptible to oxidative stress [2,3]. Nowadays AMD is considered the principal cause of visual disability among patients over 50 years [4].…”