Pterjium gelişiminde WASF3'ün rolünün araştirilmasi

Pterygium is a dysplastic Triangular-shaped and fleshy fibro vascular structure. In general pterygium color appears as pearl white to pink in the eyes. Pterygium grows up across the limbus toward cornea as sub epithelial ingrowth of degenerative bulbar conjunctival tissue. Previously, it has been mentioned by the studies that pathology of pterygium correlated with several causes which are known as risk factors. These factors consist of environmental, genetic, immunological, geographical, viral and aspectic inflammation factors. WASF3 belongs to the Wiskot-Aldrich syndrome proteins WASP/WAVE family of actin-binding protein that play essential roles in regulating cell morphology, actin polymerization, cytoskeleton remodeling, cell motility and invasion.it regulates many aspects of cancer progression, cell invasion, cell migration and metastasis, as well as remodeling of cytoskeleton. WASF3 was classified as a key driver of tumor progression and metastasis in cancers from several origins as well. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WASF3 on the behaviors of pterygium disease and to evaluate its clinical impact. In this framework, we assessed the association of WASF3, a familiar actin-binding protein and analogous to tumor suppressor gene with pterygium which exhibits tumor-like behavior. In our study We analyzed the expression level of WASF3 gene in pterygium tissue belonging to 27 patients was determined by qRT PCR method. According to the obtained data, the expression levels of the WASF3 gene in tissues with pterygium were statistically significant compared to the control group (p <0.005). It is thought that the decrease in the expression of the WASF3 gene may be related to the formation and development of pterygium. Key Words: Pterygium, Real-Time PCR, WAVE 3