Effect of plasma homocysteine levels on methylation and expression of thrombomodulin gene in patients with retinal vein occlusion

Abstract

Objective: To explore the effect of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels on methylation and expression of thrombomodulin (TM) gene in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

Methods: 11 cases of patients who were diagnosed as RVO in Department of Ophthalmology in Baogang Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were included in this research. 11 cases of healthy people who came to our physical examination center for physical examination during the same period were included into the control group. Fasting cubital venous blood was collected in the morning, plasma Hcy levels were measured by means of enzyme cycle assay, TM gene methylation was detected by methylation-specificity polymerase chain reaction (MSP), and the correlation between characteristic changes in plasma Hcy and TM gene methylation was analyzed in the research subjects.

Results: Plasma Hcy expression levels were higher in the RVO group than those in the control group (p < .01). In the control group, the TM primer set region was basically unmethylated, while in the RVO group, the TM primer set region was partially methylated.

Conclusions: Plasma Hcy affects the occurrence and development of RVO through methylation of TM encoding gene.