{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T15:06:48Z","timestamp":1780067208510,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Hindawi Limited","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,1]],"date-time":"2015-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1420070400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Medical School of Sydney University"},{"name":"Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation"},{"name":"Lions NSW Eye Bank"},{"name":"National Foundation for Medical Research & Innovation"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Ophthalmology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Keratoconus (KC) is a progressive degenerative inflammatory-related disease of the human cornea leading to decreased visual function. The pathogenesis of KC remains to be understood. Recent genetic studies indicate that gene variants of an inflammation-related molecule, hepatocyte growth factor (<jats:italic>HGF<\/jats:italic>), are associated with an increased susceptibility for developing KC. However HGF protein expression in KC has not been explored. In this initial study, we investigated late-stage KC and control corneas for the expression of HGF and its receptor mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-Met\/Met). KC buttons (~8\u2009mm diameter) (<mml:math xmlns:mml=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\" id=\"M1\"><mml:mi>n<\/mml:mi><mml:mo>=<\/mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle=\"italic\">10<\/mml:mn><\/mml:math>) and whole control corneas (<mml:math xmlns:mml=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\" id=\"M2\"><mml:mi>n<\/mml:mi><mml:mo>=<\/mml:mo><mml:mn fontstyle=\"italic\">6<\/mml:mn><\/mml:math>) were fixed in 10% formalin or 2% paraformaldehyde, paraffin embedded and sectioned. Sections were immunolabelled with HGF and c-Met antibodies, visualised using immunofluorescence, and examined with scanning laser confocal microscopy. Semiquantitative grading was used to compare HGF and c-Met immunostaining in KC and control corneas. Overall, KC corneas showed increased HGF and c-Met immunostaining compared to controls. KC corneal epithelium displayed heterogeneous moderate-to-strong immunoreactivity for HGF and c-Met, particularly in the basal epithelium adjacent to the cone area. Taken together with the recent genetic studies, our results further support a possible role for HGF\/c-Met in the pathogenesis of KC.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/2015\/852986","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,30]],"date-time":"2015-11-30T16:45:56Z","timestamp":1448901956000},"page":"1-8","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Expression of HGF and c-Met Proteins in Human Keratoconus Corneas"],"prefix":"10.1155","volume":"2015","author":[{"given":"Jingjing","family":"You","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Save Sight Institute, Discipline of Clinical Ophthalmology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Wen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Save Sight Institute, Discipline of Clinical Ophthalmology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2000, 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