Mechanisms of Glucocorticoid Receptor in Wound Healing of Human Corneal Epithelial Cells

Abstract:

Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that occur in the body in order to maintain metabolic and homeostatic processes. Glucocorticoids can be created synthetically in order to mimic natural glucocorticoids, which can be prescribed to treat various conditions, as they are highly effective in reducing inflammatory activity. Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is the receptor that is responsible for regulating the effects of glucocorticoids. There is currently little known about the mechanism of the GR signaling in the eye. More specifically, there is a need to obtain a deeper understanding of the relationship between GR and corneas, as they are essential for the visual pathway as well. This gap in information will be addressed by performing in vitro wound healing experiments in human corneal epithelial cells (HCET) with knockdown of GR using siRNA and characterization of migratory genes regulated by GR signaling (by RTq-PCR). The expected results of these experiments will determine if GR needs to be activated to regulate migration rate. The results of this study will provide additional information relating GR to corneal epithelial cell migration and improve our current understanding of ocular surface biology.