title: Comparative quantification of plasma TDRD7 mRNA in cataract patients by real-time polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between plasma TDRD7 mRNA and lens transparency, and to evaluate plasma TDRD7 mRNA as a potential marker for cataracts and its sub-type by quantitatively analyzing human peripheral blood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma RNA was extracted from 40 patients with cataracts, and 30 normal controls of matched age and gender. Blood cholesterol and fasting glucose were measured, and the RNA extracted from the sample was synthesized into cDNA. After polymerase chain reaction, the results were compared after quantifying the TDRD7 mRNA using ABL1 mRNA for normalization. We analyzed the relative gene expression data via the ΔΔCt method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The normalized 2(-ΔΔCt) of plasma TDRD7 mRNA based on ABL1 mRNA was 1.52 ± 0.63 in the case of the control group and 1.05 ± 0.34 in the case of the cataract patients, and the TDRD7 expression level of the cataract patients was lower than that of the control group (p = 0.048). The comparison of the genetic values of different types of cataracts demonstrated that the TDRD7 expression level of the cortical type and mixed type were lower than those of the nuclear type and posterior subcapsular opacity type (p = 0.017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Human cataracts and the TDRD7 gene loss-of-function mutations are strongly causally related, as the expression level of plasma TDRD7 mRNA in patients with cataracts was statistically significantly lower than in the normal control group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Seong Taeck
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Geon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Koh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002386:Cataract / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; C557201:Tdrd7 protein, human; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl
keywords: Cataract; Real-time polymerase chain reaction; TDRD7