Abstract
C-terminal domain tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) mutations cause the rare hereditary blindness Sorsby’s fundus dystrophy (SFD), which involves loss of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Since wild-type TIMP-3 causes apoptosis, we investigated whether SFD TIMP-3 might kill RPE and other cells. Plasmid-mediated overexpresion of Ser-156, Gly-167, Tyr-168 and Ser-181 SFD mutant TIMP-3 decreased RPE viability to 22±8, 20±6, 32±5, 30±12% (SFD mutants all P <0.01 versus wild-type 50±8%) and similarly increased propidium iodide staining and in situ end labelling. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of the Gly-167 mutant also caused RPE apoptosis dose-dependently. Apoptosis of RPE cells might therefore contribute to the pathology of SFD.