Transcriptomic profiling of normal and glaucomatous trabecular meshwork cells in a tissue-like soft ECM environment

Glaucomatous trabecular meshwork cells show 588 differentially expressed genes versus normal cells in a soft collagen type I/hyaluronic acid/elastin-like ECM hydrogel microenvironment.

• Why it matters: TM dysfunction is linked to elevated intraocular pressure in primary open-angle glaucoma, but the molecular differences in a tissue-like ECM context remain unclear.
• What they did: Primary human glaucomatous and normal TM strains (N=5 each) from three laboratories were cultured in 10% FBS for 4–5 days then serum-free for 2 days, followed by paired-end 100-bp Illumina RNA-seq and DESeq2 modeling.
• The result: DEGs (p<0.05, |fold change|≥2) revealed coordinated disease programs for TGF-beta/Wnt-driven ECM remodeling and fibrosis, NF-kappaB inflammation, and hypoxia/metabolic stress linked to p300/CREBBP, nominating p300/EP300 as an upstream node.