Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Corneal dystrophy
Summary
Corneal dystrophy is a group of rare hereditary disorders characterised by bilateral abnormal deposition of substances in the transparent front part of the eye called the cornea.
Corneal dystrophy may not significantly affect vision in the early stages. However, it does require proper evaluation and treatment for restoration of optimal vision. Corneal dystrophies usually manifest themselves during the first or second decade but sometimes later. It appears as grayish white lines, circles, or clouding of the cornea. Corneal dystrophy can also have a crystalline appearance.
There are over 20 corneal dystrophies that affect all parts of the cornea. These diseases share many traits:
They are usually inherited.
They affect the right and left eyes equally.
They are not caused by outside factors, such as injury or diet.
Most progress gradually.
Most usually begin in one of the five corneal layers and may later spread to nearby layers.
Most do not affect other parts of the body, nor are they related to diseases affecting other parts of the eye or body.
Most can occur in otherwise totally healthy people, male or female.
Corneal dystrophies affect vision in widely differing ways. Some cause severe visual impairment, while a few cause no vision problems and are diagnosed during a specialized eye examination by an ophthalmologist. Other dystrophies may cause repeated episodes of pain without leading to permanent loss of vision.
Different corneal dystrophies are caused by mutations in the CHST6, KRT3, KRT12, PIP5K3, SLC4A11, TACSTD2, TGFBI, and UBIAD1 genes. Mutations in TGFBI which encodes transforming growth factor beta induced cause several forms of corneal dystrophies including granular corneal dystrophy, lattice corneal dystrophy, epithelial basement membrane dystrophy, Reis-Bucklers corneal dystrophy, and Thiel–Behnke dystrophy.
Corneal dystrophies may have a simple autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive or rarely X-linked recessive Mendelian mode of inheritance:
A corneal dystrophy can be caused by an accumulation of extraneous material in the cornea, including lipids and cholesterol crystals.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.