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Serum Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio may be a promising biomarker for evaluating severity of diabetic retinopathy

  • Retinal Disorders
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the predictive role of serum angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-1/Ang-2) in evaluating the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods

A total of 101 outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were recruited and were further divided into the following five groups: T2DM without DR (non-DR), mild non-proliferative DR (NPDR), moderate NPDR, severe NPDR and proliferative DR (PDR) in accordance with the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Guidelines. Furthermore, 101 serum samples were included in the further analysis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the diagnostic value of each index.

Results

The expression of Ang-1 in the PDR group was significantly lower than that in the non-DR group, while Ang-2 showed an opposite upward trend (p < 0.05). The Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio of the non-DR group was significantly lower than that of the moderate NPDR, severe NPDR and PDR (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively). Differences in the Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio were observed earlier than those in the individual Ang-1 and Ang-2 measurements. The maximal Youden index was 0.512 with a calculated area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.734 (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

The Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio was helpful in assessing the severity of DR and may provide potential clinical benefits as a biomarker and early warning signs for DR diagnosis.

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Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870667, 81800835), National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC0840607), Program of Shanghai Academic/Technology Research Leader (21XD1402700) and Shanghai Talent Development Fund (2020084).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai General Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, National Clinical Research Center for Eye Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Ocular Fundus Diseases, Shanghai Engineering Center for Visual Science and Photomedicine, Shanghai Engineering Center for Precise Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Diseases, No. 100 Haining Road, Shanghai, 20080, China

    Yihan Wang, Junwei Fang, Tian Niu, Xindan Xing, Hanying Wang, Xin Shi, Yujuan Liu, Xinyi Liu, Chong Chen & Kun Liu

Authors
  1. Yihan Wang
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  2. Junwei Fang
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  3. Tian Niu
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  4. Xindan Xing
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  5. Hanying Wang
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  6. Xin Shi
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  7. Yujuan Liu
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  8. Xinyi Liu
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  9. Chong Chen
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  10. Kun Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chong Chen or Kun Liu.

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Ethic approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Medical Ethics Committee of the Shanghai General Hospital and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wang, Y., Fang, J., Niu, T. et al. Serum Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio may be a promising biomarker for evaluating severity of diabetic retinopathy. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 261, 49–55 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05745-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05745-z

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