ophthalmology-summit-2019-scientifictracks

Ophthalmology Summit 2019

Ophthalmology Case Reports | Volume 3

OF EXCELLENCE

IN INTERNATIONAL

MEETINGS

YEARS

March 27-28, 2019 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

GLOBAL

OPHTHALMOLOGY SUMMIT 2019

Page42

DOWN-EXPRESSION OF RHO GENE IN EGYPTIAN PATIENT WITH THREE

REGULATIVE REGION VARIANTS COULD LEAD TO RETINITIS PUNCTATA AL-

BESCENS PHENOTYPE

Luigi Donato, Concetta Scimone, Simona Alibrandi, Carmela Rinaldi, Rosalia D’Angelo

and

Antonina Sidoti

University of Messina, Italy

etinitis punctata albescens is a rare form of pigmentary retinopathy, generally inheredited as an autosomal

recessive trait. It exhibits the same clinical phenotype of a classic pigmentary retinopathy and it is charac-

terized by diffusely scattered white, dot-like lesions localized deep to the retinal vessels and associated with

night vision decrease. Electroretinogram exams show scotopic system involvement with total extinction at

advanced stages. In most cases, retinitis punctata albescens is caused by mutation in RLBP1, but several evi-

dences have shown that variants in RHO, PRPH2 or RDH5 genes could also determine the onset of disease. Our

work investigated the role of three regulative variants in the RHO gene. Two are promoter region variants, c.

-51 G>A (rs2269736) and c. -26 A>G (rs7984), in heterozygosity and homozygosity respectively. The third is the

3’-UTR variant c.*140delT (rs796098464), present in heterozygosity. All variants were detected in a 4-year- old

Egyptian patient with retinitis punctate albescence clinically confirmed diagnosis. The effects of previously cit-

ed variants on RHO expression were firstly predicted by several bioinformatics platforms (Genomatix Software

Suite v.3.10 and geneXplain web edition 4.11, supported by TRANSFAC database), then experimentally vali-

dated by Dual-Luciferase Reporter assay. Obtained results showed that rs2269736 and rs7984 variants caused

a significant expression reduction in mutated RHO promoter, compared to wild-type one. A strong decreased

gene expression was hypothesized by coexistence of both variants, with a major effect exerted by the homo-

zygous rs7984, which deleted binding sites for 47 transcription factors. Summarizing, a high downregulation

of RHO was evaluated due to combination of three variants. Decrease of RHO enzymatic activity could lead

to poor post- Golgi trafficking, dysregulative activation, rod outer segment instability and arresting binding,

probably determining rod apoptosis and retinitis punctate albescence etiopathogene.

Luigi Donato et al., Ophthalmol Case Rep 2019, Volume 3

Luigi Donato was born in Catania on 9th July 1986, graduated in Biology from University of Messina, Italy. He has

completed his PhD in “Applied Biology and Experimental Medicine” at the age of 32 years from University of Messina,

and he frequents the Laboratories of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morpho-

functional Imaging, of the same University. He published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and participated in

more than 20 national and international congresses. Moreover, he is a member of “Association of Research in Vision

and Ophthalmology” (ARVO) and of “Associazione Italiana di Biologia e Genetica” (AIBG). His main research fields are

focused on retinal dystrophies and omics approaches.

BIOGRAPHY