Fig 1: The effect of wild-type (wt) ZNF143 and mutant ZNF143 p.Asp313His (mt) in human corneal endothelial cells (hCECs). (a) A schematic diagram to investigate the role of ZNF143 in hCECs. hCECs were transfected with plasmids encoding human wt or mt ZNF143 cDNA for 24–48 h and harvested for RT-qPCR and immunoblotting. (b) The expressions of ZNF143 and ZEB1 were verified by immunoblotting in hCECs transfected with wt or mt ZNF143. Data shown are representative of at least three independent experiments. (c) The effects of ZNF143 on various genes associated with corneal dystrophy and epithelialization were analyzed in hCECs transfected with wt or mt ZNF143 by RT-qPCR. COL8A2 and ZEB1 expression was not different in hCECs transfected with wt or mt ZNF143 compared to the control. Data are plotted by mean and standard deviation. OVOL2 is not expressed in hCECs used for this study. The expression of KRT7, KRT19, and CDH1 increased significantly in mt ZNF143 transfected hCECs. They reveal increased expression in wt ZNF143-transfected cells with or without statistical significance. * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that ZEB1 (d) and COL8A2 (e) were positively stained both in corneal epithelium and endothelium. ZNF143 was expressed in cytoplasm and nucleus (arrow heads) of patient CECs (f) while it was not expressed in control CECs (g).