Subretinal fibrosis is a major cause of the poor visual prognosis for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nAMD).Myofibroblasts originated from retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells through epithe...Subretinal fibrosis is a major cause of the poor visual prognosis for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nAMD).Myofibroblasts originated from retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells through epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)contribute to the fibrosis formation.N^(6)-Methyladenosine(m^(6)A)modification has been implicated in the EMT process and multiple fibrotic diseases.The role of m^(6)A modification in EMT-related subretinal fibrosis has not yet been elucidated.In this study,we found that during subretinal fibrosis in the mouse model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization,METTL3 was upregulated in RPE cells.Through m^(6)A epitranscriptomic microarray and further verification,high-mobility group AT-hook 2(HMGA2)was identified as thekey downstream target of METTL3,subsequently activating potent EMT-inducing transcription factor SNAIL.Finally,by subretinal injections of adeno-associated virus vectors,we confirmed that METTL3 deficiency in RPE cells could efficiently attenuate subretinal fibrosis in vivo.In conclusion,our present research identified an epigenetic mechanism of METTL3-m^(6)A-HMGA2 in subretinal fibrosis and EMT of RPE cells,providing a novel therapeutic target for subretinal fibrosis secondary to nAMD.展开更多
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81730026)National Key Technologies R&D Program(2017YFA0105301)Shanghai Hospital Development Center(SHDC2020CR2040B and SHDC2020CR5014).
文摘Subretinal fibrosis is a major cause of the poor visual prognosis for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nAMD).Myofibroblasts originated from retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells through epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)contribute to the fibrosis formation.N^(6)-Methyladenosine(m^(6)A)modification has been implicated in the EMT process and multiple fibrotic diseases.The role of m^(6)A modification in EMT-related subretinal fibrosis has not yet been elucidated.In this study,we found that during subretinal fibrosis in the mouse model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization,METTL3 was upregulated in RPE cells.Through m^(6)A epitranscriptomic microarray and further verification,high-mobility group AT-hook 2(HMGA2)was identified as thekey downstream target of METTL3,subsequently activating potent EMT-inducing transcription factor SNAIL.Finally,by subretinal injections of adeno-associated virus vectors,we confirmed that METTL3 deficiency in RPE cells could efficiently attenuate subretinal fibrosis in vivo.In conclusion,our present research identified an epigenetic mechanism of METTL3-m^(6)A-HMGA2 in subretinal fibrosis and EMT of RPE cells,providing a novel therapeutic target for subretinal fibrosis secondary to nAMD.
