Retinal Transcriptomic Signatures in Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS) and Cancer-Associated...

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Ophthalmology
• Molecular Biology
• Genomics

Background:

• Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS) and Cancer-Associated Retinopathy (CAR) are distinct canine retinal diseases with unknown precise etiologies.
• Understanding shared and distinct molecular pathways is crucial for developing targeted treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare retinal gene expression profiles in canines with SARDS and CAR.
• To identify shared and distinct molecular pathways involved in SARDS and CAR pathogenesis.
• To predict potential drug targets for both conditions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of canine retinal microarray data for SARDS and CAR.
• KEGG and Gene Ontology (GO) pathway enrichment analysis using DAVID and MetaCore.
• Application of deep-learning models (ProteinBERT, LLM-Grok 4, ChatGPT4o) for drug target prediction.

Main Results:

• Both SARDS and CAR exhibited significant upregulation in T-cell co-stimulation and complement activation pathways.
• Downregulated genes were enriched in visual perception and cardiomyocyte signaling pathways.
• CAR showed upregulation in tumor-related chemokine signaling, while SARDS displayed enrichment in vascular inflammation pathways.

Conclusions:

• SARDS and CAR share immune-related molecular signatures but diverge in secondary mechanisms.
• Distinct pathways like vascular inflammation (SARDS) and paraneoplastic mimicry (CAR) are implicated.
• The study identifies potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for canine retinal degeneration.