Vasospastic individuals demonstrate significant similarity to glaucoma patients as revealed by gene expression profiling in circulating leukocytes

PURPOSE There is growing evidence that vasospatic individuals could be predisposed to develop glaucoma. Vasospastic deregulation is ensuing in activation of circulating leukocytes. In previous studies using "gene-hunting" strategies, we demonstrated stable alterations in gene expression profiles of circulating leukocytes isolated from glaucoma patients with vascular deregulation when compared to healthy individuals with no history of glaucomatous damage. The goal of this study was to look for possible similarities in gene expression profiles of circulating leukocytes in vasospastic individuals and glaucoma patients. METHODS Normal-tension (NTG) and high-tension (HTG) glaucoma patients as well as individuals with vascular deregulation (VD) and healthy controls were recruited for the gene expression analysis. The methodology of comparative Expression Array analysis followed by highly sensitive quantitative real-time PCR has been used. RESULTS Compared to the control group the expression of 146, 68, and 60 genes was found to be altered in NTG, HTG, and VD groups respectively. Thirty-four genes demonstrated similar expressional alterations in NTG, HTG, and VD groups versus controls, and only 21 genes demonstrated similar expressional alterations in NTG and HTG groups, having no overlap with the VD group. CONCLUSIONS This result indicates a potential predisposition of vasospastic individuals to glaucomatous optic nerve atrophy. The targeted expression profiles might be further considered for early/predictive glaucoma diagnosis.