Pathological myopia-induced antioxidative proteins in the vitreous humor

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate differentially expressed proteins in the vitreous humor (VH) of pathological myopia (PM) and normal eyes. METHODS: VH samples were collected from patients undergoing surgical treatment for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM), myopic retinoschisis (MRS) or macular hole (MH). A label-free quantitative proteomic analysis was performed to detect the differentially expressed proteins, and expression of three differentially expressed proteins was confirmed by ELISA. RESULTS: In PM patients (MH-PM, MRS-PM and RRD-PM), the expression of prostaglandin-H2 D-isomerase (PGDS) and glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) was significantly lower than in controls (MH, ERM, and RRD). The versican core protein expression decreased in the PM group. The vitreous concentrations of PGDS and GPX3 in patients with axial length (AL) of 26.5–29.0 mm were higher than in patients with AL >29.0 mm or AL <26.5 mm. NRF-2 expression was the lowest in patients with AL >29.0 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides new evidence on the molecular changes in the VH of PM patients, and these molecules have the potential to become new targets for the therapy of PM.