Gene expression profile difference of mer-/-gene knockout retinal pigment epithelium during uptaking photoreceptor outer segment with mer tyrosine kinase receptor and ligands

　　陈燕云 卢清君 卢清显 王宁利

　　Beijing Tongren Eye Center，Beijing Tongren Hospital，Capital Medical University，Beijing，China Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences，University of Louisville，School of Medicine，Louisville，KY，USA 100730

　　Purpose:To display the gene expression profiles changes during the phagocytosis in retina pigment epithelium(RPE)caused by Mer gene knockout(Mer-/-).

　　Methods：RPE cells from Mer-/-mice and widetype(WT)mice were cultured to 3rdpassage.Photoreceptor outer segment(POS)were added to the culture medium with 20nM Gas6 and Protein S to activate phagocytosis.In 3 and 12 hours，the activated RPE were analyzed by gene expression microarray and by phagocytosis assay evaluation.3 independent samples for each Mer-/-or WT RPE with POS were prepared followed microarray.Five genes were confirmed by QPCR.

　　Results：The Mer-/-RPE was determined to have less internalized POS than the WT RPE in both 3 and 12 hours.The abrogation of POS phagocytosis in Mer-/-RPE associated with changes of signal transduction，phagocytosis，cytoskeleton components and so on.Gene expression profiles found many signal pathways changed possible，such as Vav3，MAPK，etc.Vav3，Myo7a and so on in independent samples were consistent with microarray results.

　　Conclusions：Modulated gene expression profiles in Mer-/-RPE indicate the possible mechanism for the abnormal POS phagocytosis ability caused by Mer dysfunction.