Control by Oxygen of Lens Metabolism and Cataract Formation

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Cataract (opacification of the lens of the eye) is the primary cause of blindness in the world and costs the US Medicare program nearly $5 billion annually. Nuclear cataract (opacification of the center of the lens) is the most common form of age-related cataract. However, the causes of this disease are not well understood. Previous studies showed that exposure of the body to increased oxygen is a risk factor for nuclear cataracts in humans. The lens normally exists in a severely hypoxic environment. We found that changes in oxygen levels in the eye influence lens gene and protein expression. We also found that loss of the gel structure of the vitreous body is an important risk factor for nuclear cataracts and increases oxygen levels around the lens. Based on these and other observations described in this proposal, we propose that exposure of the lens to molecular oxygen is the primary cause of age-related nuclear cataracts and the gradual opacification of the lens nucleus that occurs with age. We will test the predictions of this hypothesis in two specific aims. In the first, we will identify the mechanisms by which oxygen regulates lens gene expression and whether oxygen levels directly contribute to the formation of nuclear cataracts. Mouse lenses that are wild type or that express stable forms of the transcription factor HIF1a will be exposed to different levels of oxygen in vivo and then microarray analysis and qPCR will be used to document changes in gene expression. This will reveal the molecular pathways by which oxygen alters lens gene expression, allowing the lens to survive in a hypoxic environment. We will also determine whether reducing the oxygen levels around the lens protects against nuclear cataract formation. This will be done by maintaining genetically modified mice that develop nuclear cataracts beginning at 6 months of age in lower levels of ambient oxygen, which lowers the oxygen levels around the lens by -50%. If molecular oxygen contributes to lens oxidative damage, this treatment will delay the formation of lens oxidative damage and opacification. By measuring oxygen levels in the eyes of patients undergoing retinal surgery we found that oxygen around the lens is elevated after vitrectomy and decreased in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Based on these data, we will test the prediction that, in patients with diabetes (lower oxygen in the vitreous body), post- vitrectomy cataracts will progress more slowly than in patients with non-ischemic retinopathy. We also observed that patients with long-standing, unilateral retinal hypoxia have less nuclear opacity in their affected (hypoxic) eye. We will compare nuclear opacity in both eyes of patients with long-standing, unilateral retinal ischemia. This study will test our prediction that oxygen from the retina is responsible for the "normal," age- related opacification of the lens nucleus.