{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:30:50Z","timestamp":1789000250806,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]],"date-time":"2022-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655856000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Eye Institute","award":["EY028158(XF)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EY028158(XF)"]}]},{"name":"James Fickel Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Fund (XF)","award":["EY028158(XF)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EY028158(XF)"]}]},{"name":"National Eye Institute, Center Core Grant for Vision Research (P30EY031631) at Augusta University","award":["EY028158(XF)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EY028158(XF)"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cells"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) is a frequent complication after cataract surgery, and advanced PCO requires YAG laser (Nd: YAG) capsulotomy, which often gives rise to more complications. Lens epithelial cell (LEC) proliferation and transformation (i.e., epithelial\u2013mesenchymal transition (EMT)) are two critical elements in PCO initiation and progression pathogenesis. While PCO marginally impacts aged cataract surgery patients, PCO incidences are exceptionally high in infants and children undergoing cataract surgery. The gene expression of lens epithelial cell aging and its role in the discrepancy of PCO prevalence between young and older people have not been fully studied. Here, we conducted a comprehensive differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis of a cell aging model by comparing the early and late passage FHL124 lens epithelial cells (LECs). In vitro, TGF\u03b22, cell treatment, and in vivo mouse cataract surgical models were used to validate our findings. We found that aged LECs decelerated rates of cell proliferation accompanied by dysregulation of cellular immune response and cell stress response. Surprisingly, we found that LECs systematically downregulated epithelial\u2013mesenchymal transition (EMT)-promoting genes. The protein expression of several EMT hallmark genes, e.g., fibronectin, \u03b1SMA, and cadherin 11, were gradually decreased during LECs aging. We then confirmed these findings in vitro and found that aged LECs markedly alleviated TGF\u03b22-mediated EMT. Importantly, we explicitly confirmed the in vitro findings from the in vivo mouse cataract surgery studies. We propose that both the high proliferation rate and EMT-enriched young LECs phenotypic characteristics contribute to unusually high PCO incidence in infants and children.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells11132001","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]],"date-time":"2022-06-22T21:31:06Z","timestamp":1655933466000},"page":"2001","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Aged Lens Epithelial Cells Suppress Proliferation and Epithelial\u2013Mesenchymal Transition-Relevance for Posterior Capsule Opacification"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Zongbo","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1460 Laney Walker Blvd., CB Building, Room CB1119, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pasley","family":"Gordon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caili","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1460 Laney Walker Blvd., CB Building, Room CB1119, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingru","family":"Huangfu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1460 Laney Walker Blvd., CB Building, Room CB1119, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lakeside High School at Columbia County, Evans, GA 30809, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7371-4085","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genomics, Epigenomics and Sequencing Core, Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hong","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Fourth Hospital, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xingjun","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1460 Laney Walker Blvd., CB Building, Room CB1119, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"601","DOI":"10.1016\/S0886-3350(97)80040-5","article-title":"Epidemiology of cataract in childhood: A global perspective","volume":"23","author":"Foster","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. 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