Eye lens a-crystallin is a member of the small heat shock protein (sHSP) family and forms large multimeric structures. Earlier studies have shown that it can act like a molecular chaperone and form a stable complex with partially unfolded proteins. We have observed that prior binding of the hydrophobic protein melittin to a-crystallin diminishes its chaperone-like activity toward denaturing alc...

PURPOSE To determine protein-protein interactions among lens crystallins in living cells. METHODS Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy was used to visualize interactions in living cells directly. Two genes, one (alphaA-crystallin) fused with green fluorescence protein (GFP) and the other (each of the following genes: alphaB-, betaB2-, gammaC-crystallin, and R120G alphaB-cr...

alphaB-crystallin is a chaperone belonging to the small heat shock protein family. Herein we show attenuation of intraocular angiogenesis in alphaB-crystallin knockout (alphaB-crystallin(-/-)) mice in 2 models of intraocular disease: oxygen-induced retinopathy and laser-induced choroidal neovascularization. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) mRNA and hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha p...

PURPOSE With aging, lens crystallins undergo post-translational modifications (PTMs) and these modifications are believed to play a major role in age-related cataract development. The purpose of the present study was to determine the protein profiles of crystallins and their PTMs in the cortical and nuclear regions within an aging human lens to gain a better understanding about changes in cryst...

PURPOSE To characterize the growth and maturation of nonimmortalized human lens epithelial (HLE) cells grown in vitro. METHODS HLE cells, established from 18-week prenatal lenses, were maintained on bovine corneal endothelial (BCE) extracellular matrix (ECM) in medium supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). The identity, growth, and differentiation of the cultures were chara...

alphaB-crystallin, a member of the small heat shock protein family, possesses chaperone-like function. Recently, it has been shown that a missense mutation in alphaB-crystallin, R120G, is genetically linked to a desmin-related myopathy as well as to cataracts [Vicart, P., Caron, A., Guicheney, P., Li, A., Prevost, M.-C., Faure, A., Chateau, D., Chapon, F., Tome, F., Dupret, J.-M., et al. (1998)...

αB crystallin is a chaperone protein with anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory functions and has been identified as a biomarker in age-related macular degeneration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether αB crystallin is secreted from retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, the mechanism of this secretory pathway and to determine whether extracellular αB crystallin can be taken up b...