Project description:Complement Factor H (CFH) common genetic variants have been associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While most previous in vitro RPE studies focused on the common p.His402Tyr CFH variant, we characterized rare CFH variants that are highly penetrant for AMD using induced pluripotent stem cell derived retinal pigment epithelium (iPSC-RPE). Our results show that lower FH levels were detected in AMD RPE, which potentially disrupted canonical and non-canonical roles of FH. Specifically, AMD RPE displayed higher inflammation rate and a reduced set of differentially expressed genes compared to control RPE upon A2E and blue light challenge. Additionally, cholesterol efflux and POS phagocytosis defects, dysregulated complement levels, larger sub-RPE deposits and increased mitochondrial stress were observed in AMD RPE. Thus, our study reveals new non-canonical roles for FH in regulating important RPE functions.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222 wild type grown to mid-exponential phase in minimal media with either 13 uM (Cu-H) or 0.5 uM (Cu-L) Cu regimes. The goal was to define the effects of Cu-limitation on denitrification genes Two growth conditions, three biological replicates of each condition. Each sample hybridised in a two-channel hybridization against Paracoccus denitrificans genomic DNA as the comparator/reference, which also acted as a control for spot quality. Cu-concentration 13 uM (Cu-H) versus 0.5 uM Cu (Cu-L) in anaerobic growth conditions.
