Among the top of those 116 genes that were significantly down-regulated only in RGC-32 KO astrocytes were members of the mitogen activated protein kinase family (e.g., Map3k21), synapse components (e.g., synaptotagmin VII – Syt7) and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Il17d, a member of the IL-17 family found to be up-regulated in peri-plaques from spinal cords of patients with progressive MS (34) (Supplementary File 4). Here, SYT7 is linked to myeloid sarcoma.