Petersen, Melissa PhD

Vision disorders occur in nearly all individuals with Down syndrome (DS) with development of ocular co-morbidities such as keratoconus, a cornea dystrophy, occurring 6 times more often in this population as compared to the general population. Recent work from our group has found differences in sex hormones (i.e. androgen and estrogen levels) among individuals with keratoconus as compared to healthy controls but this difference was impacted by age and gender. Information gained from this study will (1) reveal the relationship between gonadotropins among individuals with DS and ocular comorbidities, specifically keratoconus, and (2) provide insight into the association between known plasma biomarkers including serum amyloid A1 and gonadotrophins among those with DS as well as those with comorbid keratoconus and DS.