The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells plays a key role in
proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and proliferative
diabetic retinopathy (PDR), both of which lead to severe loss of vision. Recently,
microRNAs (
miRNAs) have been found to be involved in the regulation of various physiological and
pathological processes, such as embryogenesis, organ development,
oncogenesis and angiogenesis. However, the expression profile and function of
miRNAs in the EMT of RPE cells remain to be clarified. In this study, human
miRNA expression profiles were identified using microarrays and 304
miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in TGFβ2-induced EMT in human RPE cells. Of these differentially expressed
miRNAs, 185
miRNAs were downregulated and 119
miRNAs were upregulated at least 2-fold in TGFβ2 treatment samples. Similar alterations of
miRNA expression were validated for 35 representative
miRNAs by quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Therefore, these results suggested that differentially expressed
miRNAs play potential roles in TGFβ2-induced EMT in RPE cells. This is an essential step in the identification of
miRNAs associated with PVR and PDR progression, and in the identification of potential therapeutic targets for these diseases.