Introduction and Objective: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is associated with hyperglycemia and inflammatory biomarkers such as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor. Another molecule, Endocrine Gland-derived Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (EG-VEGF) is present in human sera and is hypothesized to play a role in angiogenesis. We aim to determine whether DR severity is correlated to circulating levels of biomarkers associated with inflammation and vascular proliferation such as EG-VEGF.Methods: We examined 143 patients with diabetes and being seen by a retina specialist. Patients received a blood draw and were split into cohorts based on their retinal findings: Diabetes No Retinopathy (DNR), Non-proliferative DR (NPDR), or Proliferative DR (PDR), (n=47, n=49, and n=53 respectively). Serum was analyzed for biomarker concentrations of EG-VEGF using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: Samples were run in duplicate. The means of the log EG-VEGF concentrations for DNR, NPDR, and PDR were 1.95, 2.22, and 1.91 respectively. A Kruskal-Wallis test was performed with a p-value >0.05 (0.93). In each of the cohorts, approximately half of the samples were below baseline value.Conclusion: Although EG-VEGF has been characterized with angiogenic capacities, we found no correlation regarding DR severity and the concentration of serum EG-VEGF. Further studies with additional angiogenesis-related biomarkers and subgroup analyses may offer deeper insights.
J. Stroumza: None. J. Lee: None. C.M. Sooranahalli: None. F. De Alba: None. O.M. Iqbal: None.
Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness
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