Research article summary (published 17 Sep 2009):

Effect of serum cytokines and VEGF levels on diabetic retinopathy and macular thickness.

Full Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of serum inflammatory cytokines and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) and evaluate their relationship with macular thickness measurements obtained with optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: The study enrolled 28 healthy subjects (Group 1), 31 patients without DR (Group 2), 49 patients with nonproliferative DR (Group 3), and 46 patients with proliferative DR (Group 4). Macular profile was assessed with Stratus OCT-3 and the serum concentrations of VEGF and interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP-1 alpha), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1), and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were measured using multiplex bead immunoassay. RESULTS: The median value of the visual acuity was 20/20 (Groups 1 and 2), and 20/100 (Group 3), and 20/125 (Group 4). The median value of central subfield macular thickness was estimated as 165.50 microm in Group 1, 202.5 microm in Group 2, 318 microm in Group 3, and 310 microm in Group 4. The median serum VEGF level, which was 98.20 pg/ml in Group 1, demonstrated a progressive rise to 125.37 pg/ml in Group 2, to 153.07 pg/ml in Group 3, and to 149.12 pg/ml in Group 4. Statistical significance was found between all groups (p<0.05) except between Groups 3 and 4 (p=0.87). The median levels of IL-1 alpha and IL-6 were zero in all groups. The median serum levels of IL-8, IL-10, MIP-1 alpha, and EGF revealed a wide range within each group but no statistical significance between the groups (p>0.05). The median serum levels of IL-8, IL-10, MIP-1 alpha, and EGF revealed a wide range within each group, however, no statistically significant relationship was found between the groups (p>0.05). The median values of the serum MCP-1 concentrations presented a statistically significant rise with the progression of DR (p=0.02). No correlation was found between macular thickness and serum cytokine and VEGF levels (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Increased serum levels of VEGF and MCP-1 may act as a key regulator of DR and provide a potential tool for risk assessment in diabetic patients. Further studies that evaluate both vitreous and serum levels in various stages of DR are needed to provide a better understanding of the interaction between systemic and local inflammatory and angiogenic factors.

Author information

Author/s: Ozturk, Banu Turgut (BT); Bozkurt, Banu (B); Kerimoglu, Hurkan (H); Okka, Mehmet (M); Kamis, Umit (U); Gunduz, Kemal (K);

Affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Meram Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. ozturkbanuturgut(-atsign-)yahoo.com

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Molecular vision (Mol Vis), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-; vol 15 (issue ) : pp 1906-14

Dates: Created 2009/09/28; Completed 2009/10/28;

PMID: 19784389, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/28/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Chemokine CCL2 - blood Cytokines - blood Diabetic Retinopathy - blood; physiopathology Female Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated - metabolism Humans

Humans Macula Lutea - pathology Male Middle Aged Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - blood Visual Acuity

Associated Chemicals: CCL2 protein, human (0) ; Chemokine CCL2 (0) ; Cytokines (0) ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated (0) ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (0) ; hemoglobin A1c protein, human (0)

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