{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:34:47Z","timestamp":1790814887203,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769212800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]},"abstract":"\n Purpose:<\/jats:title>\n Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) results in the death of the nonproliferative endothelial cells of the posterior corneal surface, leading to corneal swelling, clouding, and potential blindness. Few studies have suggested the potential role of transcription factors in the endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EnMT) during disease progression. This study aimed to evaluate the expression of selected transcription factors in the corneal endothelium of FECD patients to understand their role in disease pathogenesis.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Design:<\/jats:title>\n \n This is a prospective, pilot, case-control study for studying the gene expression in patients with FECD. Transcription factors\n ZEB1, TCF4<\/jats:italic>\n , smad proteins (\n SMAD3<\/jats:italic>\n ,\n SMAD4<\/jats:italic>\n ), zinc finger proteins\n SNAI1<\/jats:italic>\n and\n SNAI2<\/jats:italic>\n , lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1 (\n LEF1<\/jats:italic>\n ), N-cadherin (\n CDH2<\/jats:italic>\n ), claudin 10\n (CLDN10)<\/jats:italic>\n , and nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2\n (NFE2L2\/NRF2<\/jats:italic>\n ), which are involved in the EnMT, were selected for the study. Fourteen FECD endothelia were compared with 15 control endothelia for the gene expression analyses using quantitative real-time PCR.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results:<\/jats:title>\n \n Significant differential expressions were seen in the levels of\n SMAD3<\/jats:italic>\n (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.0251) in moderate cases compared to control tissues. Further,\n TCF4<\/jats:italic>\n and\n NFE2L2<\/jats:italic>\n showed significantly different expressions among the moderate and severe cases (\n P<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.0262 and\n P<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.0350, respectively), with expressions decreasing with severity, indicating their possible role in disease progression.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n \n Our pilot study on transcription factor gene expressions in FECD patients\u2019 tissue samples suggests\n NRF2<\/jats:italic>\n and\n TCF4<\/jats:italic>\n to play an important role in the disease pathogenesis and progression.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.4103\/ijo.ijo_1657_25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T13:00:30Z","timestamp":1769346030000},"page":"219-224","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Differential expression of transcription factors in moderate and severe Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy"],"prefix":"10.4103","volume":"74","author":[{"given":"Srividya","family":"Gurumurthy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"R. S. Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu"},{"name":"Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Prema","family":"Padmanabhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CJ Shah Cornea Services, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Narayanasamy","family":"Angayarkanni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R. S. Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu"},{"name":"SNSC Clinical Laboratory, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"R1-20260420","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1016\/j.exer.2014.10.023","article-title":"The pathophysiology of Fuchs\u2019 endothelial dystrophy--A review of molecular and cellular insights","volume":"130","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Exp Eye Res"},{"key":"R2-20260420","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"912","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.eye.6700559","article-title":"Biology of the corneal endothelium in health and disease","volume":"17","author":"Bourne","year":"2003","journal-title":"Eye 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