Recent advances in corneal stroma protein studies

Cornea stroma mostly consists of proteins in extracellular matrix secreted by corneal epithelial cells, stroma and endothelial cells.A total of 1 679 unique Swiss-Prot annotated proteins are identified by LC-MS/MS analyses in human corneal stroma based on SDS-PAGE separation followed by in-gel trypsin digestion.As the principal component of corneal stroma, corneal stroma proteins play an important role in the physiological and pathological activities of eye.Studies towards their functions are helpful for revealing the pathogenesis of eye diseases and providing new ideas of prevention and therapy.Mainly through their manifestations, proteins in corneal stroma play a key role in forming gel-like organic material and network like structure of filaments.The gel-like organic material is composed of proteoglycan, enzymes, haemocyanin and binding proteins, while the network of filaments are constituted by collagen, elastin, keratin, vimentin as well as interconnected filaments made from fibronectin and laminin.The categories and functions of corneal stroma proteins were summarized.