Retinal ablation and altered lens differentiation induced by ocular overexpression of BMP7

The alphaA-crystallin promoter was used to target expression of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) to lens fiber cells in transgenic mice. Surprisingly, lens-specific expression of BMP7 induced widespread apoptosis and rapid ablation of the neural retina in multiple families. Subsequent to retinal ablation, the lens bow region shifted posteriorly until lens epithelial cells completely enveloped the lens. Lens-specific expression of FGF3 was found to rescue the loss of fiber cell differentiation. Our results show that elevated BMP7 levels can induce rapid retinal degeneration accompanied by disruption of the endogenous ocular system for fiber cell induction.