Understanding How Variants in LOXL1 Affect Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma Risk
Principal Investigator
Mentors
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Raquel Lieberman, PhD
Project Goals
The purpose of this project is to determine how variants in the LOXL1 encoding gene alter the protein's structure and function, thereby altering risk for pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.
Project Summary
Genetic variants in LOXL1 can alter risk for pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (XFG), a blinding disease that affects more than 10 million people. This project seeks to determine how these variants alter the structure and function of the LOXL1 protein. Successful completion of this project will provide a better understanding of how LOXL1 variants contribute to XFG and provide groundwork for therapeutic development.
This project would be the first to characterize the protein structure of LOXL1 with and without pseudoexfoliation glaucoma-associated variants. Results will offer novel insight into how pseudoexfoliation glaucoma-associated variants contribute to the disease by altering interactions with fibulin-5, a protein necessary for proper LOXL1 localization.
Publications
First published on: August 05, 2024
Last modified on: September 11, 2024