Evaluating the mRNA Expression Profile of APC in Pterygium

Introduction: The exact etiology of pterygium is unknown. Most of population based studies implicating that pterygium has a benign behavior rather than destructive condition. Changed expression of cell cycle-related genes may lead to the abnormal cell proliferation and finally to malignancy phenotype. The aim of this study was evaluation the expression profiles of APC in pterygium. Materials and Methods: The RNA extracted from the 23 pterygium tissues and 18 healthy tissues. After converting RNA to cDNA. The expression levels of these genes were assessed by real-time PCR. Results: The relative expression of APC gene in pterygium tissues was significantly different in comparison to conjunctiva tissues of healthy controls (mean ± SD was 1.82 ± 0.15 for cases versus 1.70  0.12 for controls, P value = 0.048). Conclusion: Detection of expression changes, leading to find molecular mechanism underlying the disease. As well as exploring pterygium markers paving the road for better therapy. We would like to propose further studies to identify exact molecular function of this gene in pterygium by using advanced molecular techniques such as RNAseq in various and larger genetic populations.