en زیست شناسی سلولی Cell Biology مقالات اصلی Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Background:</em></strong> c-MAF, a transcription factor that belongs to the b-Zip Maf transcription factor family, was found to be critical for lens development in vertebrates. It is a well-known fact that the adult human ocular surface expresses c-MAF, however, its role in the limbus, cornea and conjunctiva remains unknown. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate c-MAF expression within the human ocular surface, and its potential role in pterygium pathogenesis.<br> <br> <strong><em>Methods:</em></strong> We performed immunohistochemical staining to detect c-MAF expression in frozen adult human tissue sections, including the limbus, cornea and conjunctiva, and cultured cells from eye cadavers. We then compared c-MAF expression to the expression of a known protein, P63. Lastly, we performed RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry for c-MAF expression in healthy adult human conjunctiva and pterygium.<br> <br> <strong><em>Results:</em></strong> We found differential c-MAF expression between adult human limbus, cornea and conjunctiva tissues. Further, we observed that c-MAF is downregulated in the pterygium compared to healthy conjunctiva.<br> <br> <strong><em>Conclusions:</em></strong> Overall, our results suggest that c-MAF may play a context-specific role in maintaining limbal, corneal and conjunctival homeostasis, and may be critical for preventing pterygium development in humans.<br> &nbsp;</div> Conjunctiva, C-MAF Expression, Human Ocular Surface, Pterygium 419 428 http://rbmb.net/browse.php?a_code=A-10-375-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Hasan Mahmud Reza hasan.reza@northsouth.edu 100319475328460017436 100319475328460017436 Yes Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh. Razwa Saleh saleh.sh@gmail.com 100319475328460017437 100319475328460017437 No Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh. Preeti Jain preeti.jain@northsouth.edu 100319475328460017438 100319475328460017438 No Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh. Ghazi Muhammad Sayedur Rahman sayedur.rahman@northsouth.edu 100319475328460017439 100319475328460017439 No Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh. Asim Kumar Bepari asim.bepari@northsouth.edu 100319475328460017440 100319475328460017440 No Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh.