Summary: Cataract is one of the most important causes of blindness worldwide, with age‐related cataract being the most common one. Agents preventing cataract formation are urgently required. Substantial evidences point out aggravated oxidative stress as a vital factor for cataract formation. Nuclear factor (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2 (Nrf2)/Kelch‐like erythroid‐cell‐derived protein with CNC homology (ECH)‐associated protein 1 (Keap1) system is considered as one of the main cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stresses. This review discusses the role of Nrf2 pathway in the prevention of cataracts and highlights that Nrf2 suppressors may augment oxidative stress of the lens, and Nrf2 inducers may decrease the oxidative stress and prevent the cataract formation. Thus, Nrf2 may serve as a promising therapeutic target for cataract treatment.

Diabetes mellitus is a global issue with increasing incidence rate worldwide. In an uncontrolled case, it can advance to various organ-related complications leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) appears to be a fairly novel lncRNA that is relevant to diabetes and its role in diabetic-related diseases initiation and progression have long been a subject of attention to many scholars. The expression of MALAT1 is elevated in different diabetic-related diseases. In this review, we demonstrate the various functions of MALAT1 in the different diabetes-related complications including ischemic reperfusion injury, retinopathy, cataract, atherosclerosis, cardiomyopathy, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, gastroparesis, kidney disease, and gestational diabetes. The emerging evidence showed that the role of MALAT1 in diabetic-related complications is both pro-inflammatory and apoptosis in different cell types. These results concluded that MALAT1 is a potential diagnostic and future targeted therapy for diabetes-associated complications.

This study is the first to explore the potential associations among allergic conjunctivitis (AC), air pollution, and meteorological conditions in Northeast China. Data of meteorology, ambient atmospheric pollutants, and the incidence of allergic conjunctivitis (IAC) in prefecture-level cities between the years 2014 and 2018 are analyzed. The results show an increasing trend in the AC of average growth rate per annum 7.6%, with the highest incidence in the provincial capitals. The IAC is positively correlated with atmospheric pollutants (i.e., PM_2.5, PM₁₀, CO, SO₂, NO₂, and O₃) and meteorological factors (i.e., air temperature and wind speed), but negatively correlated with relative humidity. These results suggest that the IAC is directly proportional to pollution level and climatic conditions, and also the precedence of air pollution. We have further obtained the threshold values of atmospheric pollutants concentration and meteorological factors, a turning point above which more AC may be induced. Compared with the air quality standard advised by China and the World Health Organization (WHO), both thresholds of PM₁₀ (70 μg m⁻³) and PM_2.5 (45 μg m⁻³) are higher than current standards and pose a less environmental risk for the IAC. SO₂ threshold (23 μg m⁻³) is comparable to the WHO standard and significantly lower than that of China’s, indicating greater environmental risks in China. Both thresholds of NO₂ (27 μg m⁻³) and O₃ (88 μg m⁻³) are below current standards, indicating that they are major environmental risk factors for the IAC. Our findings highlight the importance of atmospheric environmental protection and reference for health-based amendment.

The digestive system cancers are leading cause of cancer‐related death worldwide, and have high risks of morbidity and mortality. More and more long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been studied to be abnormally expressed in cancers and play a key role in the process of digestive system tumour progression. Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) seems fairly novel. Since 1984, PVT1 was identified to be an activator of MYC in mice. Its role in human tumour initiation and progression has long been a subject of interest. The expression of PVT1 is elevated in digestive system cancers and correlates with poor prognosis. In this review, we illustrate the various functions of PVT1 during the different stages in the complex process of digestive system tumours (including oesophageal cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer). The growing evidence shows the involvement of PVT1 in both proliferation and differentiation process in addition to its involvement in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). These findings lead us to conclude that PVT1 promotes proliferation, survival, invasion, metastasis and drug resistance in digestive system cancer cells. We will also discuss PVT1's potential in diagnosis and treatment target of digestive system cancer. There was a great probability PVT1 could be a novel biomarker in screening tumours, prognosis biomarkers and future targeted therapy to improve the survival rate in cancer patients.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of endogenous non-coding RNAs produced by back-splicing. They are found to be expressed in eukaryotic cells and play certain roles in various cellular functions, including fibrosis, cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and angiogenesis. Dysregulated circRNAs are found in several human disorders including, malignancy, vascular, inflammatory as well as nervous diseases. Although, increasing evidence suggests that circRNAs may also contribute in different ocular diseases, the outline of circRNAs in ocular diseases remains obscure. In this review we consider the current state of knowledge regarding the potential role and underlying mechanism of circRNAs in ocular diseases including pterygium, age-related cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, retinoblastoma, retinal vascular dysfunction and hyperhomocysteinemia induced ocular diseases, emphasizing that circRNAs could be promising biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis evaluation. Future circRNAs-targeted intervention may become a novel therapeutic tool for the treatment of ocular diseases.