Figure 4. Effects of gene therapy on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and interleukine-1β (IL-1β) expression in alkaline-burned corneas. VEGF was detected by western blot (A) while MMP-9 and IL-1β were detected by reverse transcription PCR (B). GAPDH was used as the internal control in all cases. As shown by the analysis results (C) compared with the vehicle vector group, combined gene therapy significantly downregulated the expression levels of VEGF, MMP-9, and IL-1β. Three independent experiments were conducted, and data were shown as mean±SD. The asterisk indicates p<0.05, and the double asterisk indicates p<0.01, compared with the group injected vehicle retroviral particles into conjunctival sac (vehicle vector group).