Epigenetics, diseases and therapy in ophthalmology

Heritable changes in gene expression are regarded as epigenetics, which do not involve coding sequence modifications. The study of ophthalmology epigenetics is a rapidly growing area in biomedical research. Epigenetic mechanisms principally include DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodeling and non-coding RNA. Aberrant DNA methylation and histone modification are linked to a number of age-related disorders, such as cancer, autoimmune and others. In recent years, the modulations of epigenetic changes on the pathogenesis of eye disorders and their roles in therapeutic interventions are drawing more and more attention, and these studies deepen the understanding of relevant diseases. Since the epigenetic alterations are reversible, modifying epigenetic marks contributing to eye diseases provide a new approach to the development of disease prevention, diagnosis and therapies. Herein we discuss the roles of epigenetic changes in eye disease development, hoping that ophthalmologists and researchers pay attention to these researching cues in pathogenesis of eye disorders caused by genetic expression alterations in response to environmental changes, importantly, to the implication for relevant eye disease therapy and prevention.