M.A. Thesis:

EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE RIPK1 AND RIPK3 GENES IN PTERYGIUM

Purpose: Pterygium is a benign growth of fibrovascular tissue on the cornea. It is a common ocular surface disease characterized by the abnormal epithelial proliferation, matrix remodeling, vascularization and the migration of the lesion. Although the etiology of pterygium is elusive, many studied showed that cell death pathway has main role in regulation of cell cycle. The aim of this study was to examine the expression levels of necropotosis markers in petrygium patients. Methods: Using real time PCR, the expression of RIP1K and RIP3K were analyzed in primary pterygium when compared to their normal conjunctiva tissues. The correlation between RIP1K and RIP3K, as well as association between clinicopathological indices with both gene expression levels was assessed. Results: our data showed that the expression of RIP3K is upregulated in pterygium samples, but the expression of RIP1K is not changed. It also indicated that the expression of RIP3K is correlated by recurrence (p<0.001), although there are no any correlation with other demographic data. Conclusion: The outcomes of present data highlighted the upregulation of RIP3k in pterygium, and this might be presented the mechanism of necropetosis in this disease.

Keywords: Pterygium , RIPK3 , RIPK1