Elevated anti-apoptotic shift in primary human aniridia limbal stromal cells following 48 hours supraphysiological glucose exposure, in vitro
Fig 5
Protein levels of other apoptosis-related markers in limbal stromal cells (LSCs) and aniridia-LSCs (AN-LSCs), after treatment with 17.5 mM and 70 mM glucose for 48 hours, using flow cytometry (A-E) and ELISA (F).
Protein levels of p21, p27, XIAP, TNF-α, and Survivin are shown. Data represent the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test; significant p values are indicated. Representative histograms display primary antibody staining in green, with the corresponding secondary antibody alone (negative control) shown in red. MFI: mean fluorescence intensity, normalized to the secondary antibody control. Following 70 mM glucose treatment, XIAP protein levels increased significantly in both LSCs (p = 0.0451) and AN-LSCs (p = 0.0134), while Survivin protein levels showed a significant rise in AN-LSCs (p = 0.0467). Nevertheless, none of the other analyzed protein levels, assessed by flow cytometry or ELISA, changed significantly (p ≥ 0.2239).