Corneal injury repair and the potential involvement of ZEB1.
Lin JinLijun ZhangChunxiao YanMengxin LiuDouglas C DeanYongqing LiuPublished in: Eye and vision (London, England) (2024)
The cornea, consisting of three cellular and two non-cellular layers, is the outermost part of the eyeball and frequently injured by external physical, chemical, and microbial insults. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a crucial role in the repair of corneal injuries. Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), an important transcription factor involved in EMT, is expressed in the corneal tissues. It regulates cell activities like migration, transformation, and proliferation, and thereby affects tissue inflammation, fibrosis, tumor metastasis, and necrosis by mediating various major signaling pathways, including transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. Dysfunction of ZEB1 would impair corneal tissue repair leading to epithelial healing delay, interstitial fibrosis, neovascularization, and squamous cell metaplasia. Understanding the mechanism underlying ZEB1 regulation of corneal injury repair will help us to formulate a therapeutic approach to enhance corneal injury repair.
Keyphrases
- epithelial mesenchymal transition
- transforming growth factor
- signaling pathway
- optical coherence tomography
- wound healing
- transcription factor
- long non coding rna
- cataract surgery
- squamous cell
- physical activity
- gene expression
- mental health
- pi k akt
- single cell
- microbial community
- cell proliferation
- bone marrow
- endothelial cells