title: The signaling pathway involved in the proliferation of corneal endothelial cells.
abstract: Corneal transparency is maintained by the corneal endothelium through its barrier and ionic pump function. However, this function could be compromised with age and variety of diseases and trauma, leading to cornea dycompensation, corneal edema, bullous keratopathy and even loss of visual acuity. So far, a lot of measures have been proposed to solve the problem through promoting the corneal endothelial cells (CECs) proliferation both in vivo and in vitro. However, the exact molecular mechanism regarding the proliferation potential as well as associated phenotype maintenance of CECs has not been well clarified. Accordingly, we will review the studies outlined the signal transduction pathways that were involved in the process of CECs proliferation, which is an important and relatively seldom touched research direction for future new therapies of corneal endothelium dysfunction. By operating the crucial signaling molecular in these pathways, we anticipate to activate or block the signaling pathways and thus help engineering CEC monolayer for clinical transplantation.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weijie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Junzhao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Ophthalmology , Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xianqun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D049109:Cell Proliferation; D016039:Corneal Transplantation; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: Corneal endothelial cells; proliferation; signal pathway