Aqueous humor pentraxin-3 levels in patients with diabetes mellitus

Changes in aqueous and vitreous inflammatory cytokine levels in nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes mellitus with the potential for significant patient morbidity. Although changes to intraocular inflammatory cytokines are integral to disease pathogenesis, studies have been inconsistent about which exact cytokines are associated with diabetic retinopathy. We aimed to quantitatively summarize proangiogenic and proinflammatory cytokines in nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), given its frequency among those with diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

A systematic literature search without year limitation to February 21, 2022, identified 59 studies assessing vitreous or aqueous cytokine levels in NPDR, encompassing 1378 eyes with NPDR and 1288 eyes from nondiabetic controls. Effect sizes were generated as standardized mean differences (SMD) of cytokine concentrations between patients with NPDR and controls.

RESULTS

Concentrations (SMD, 95% confidence interval, and p value) of aqueous interleukin-6 (IL-6) (2.58, 1.17‒3.99; p = 0.0003), IL-8 (1.56, 0.39‒2.74; p = 0.009), IL-17 (13.55, 7.50‒19.59; p < 0.001), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) (2.44, 1.02‒3.85; p = 0.0007) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (1.35, 0.76‒1.93; p < 0.00001), and vitreous VEGF (1.49, 0.60‒2.37; p = 0.001) were significantly higher in patients with NPDR when compared with those of healthy controls.

CONCLUSIONS

These cytokines may serve as disease markers of the biochemical alterations seen in NPDR and may guide interventions, as we move into an era of more targeted therapeutics.

Potential impact of epicardial fat thickness, pentraxin-3, and high-sensitive C-reactive protein on the risk of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Purpose

We tried to clarify the potential association between systemic inflammatory markers like high-sensitive C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), pentraxin-3 (PTX3), and epicardial fat thickness (EFT) with the non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Previous studies dealt with diabetic retinopathy as a whole entity rather than early stages of diabetic retinopathy. Early detection of various determinants of NPDR is prioritized in clinical practice.

Methods

A case-control study was conducted at Mansoura University Hospital, included 207 Egyptian subjects divided into 3 groups; 69 diabetic patients without retinopathy, 69 diabetic patients with NPDR, and 69 healthy control subjects. Participants were subjected to clinical history taking, physical examination, and laboratory assessment of Hs-CRP and plasma PTX3. Transthoracic echocardiography was applied to estimate EFT.

Results

Hs-CRP, PTX3, and EFT were significantly higher in patients with T2D without retinopathy than control cohort (p = 0.033, p < 0.00 and p < 0.00, respectively). Moreover, patients with NPDR showed significantly higher values of Hs-CRP, PTX3, and EFT than diabetic comparators without retinopathy (p = 0.002, p = 0.012, and p < 0.001, respectively). Although, NPDR was positively correlated with Hs-CRP, PTX3, and EFT (p < 0.001), Hs-CRP was not an independent determinant of NPDR meanwhile, EFT (OR = 1.094, 95%CI: 1.036-1.154, P = 0.001) and PTX3 (OR = 16.145, 95%CI: 1.676-155.551, P = 0.016) were.

Conclusion

Plasma pentraxin-3 and epicardial fat thickness showed more significant association with NPDR than high-sensitive C-reactive protein in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Changes in aqueous and vitreous inflammatory cytokine levels in proliferative diabetic retinopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Diabetic retinopathy is a major complication of diabetes mellitus, where in its most advanced form ischemic changes lead to the development of retinal neovascularization, termed proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). While the development of PDR is often associated with angiogenic and inflammatory cytokines, studies differ on which cytokines are implicated in disease pathogenesis and on the strength of these associations. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively assess the existing body of data on intraocular cytokines as biomarkers in PDR.

METHODS

A comprehensive search of the literature without year limitation was conducted to January 18, 2021, which identified 341 studies assessing vitreous or aqueous cytokine levels in PDR, accounting for 10379 eyes with PDR and 6269 eyes from healthy controls. Effect sizes were calculated as standardized mean differences (SMD) of cytokine concentrations between PDR and control patients.

RESULTS

Concentrations (SMD, 95% confidence interval, and p-value) of aqueous IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, TNF-α, and VEGF, and vitreous IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, angiopoietin-2, eotaxin, erythropoietin, GM-CSF, GRO, HMGB-1, IFN-γ, IGF, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1, MMP-9, PDGF-AA, PlGF, sCD40L, SDF-1, sICAM-1, sVEGFR, TIMP, TNF-α, and VEGF were significantly higher in patients with PDR when compared to healthy nondiabetic controls. For all other cytokines no differences, failed sensitivity analyses or insufficient data were found.

CONCLUSIONS

This extensive list of cytokines speaks to the complexity of PDR pathogenesis, and informs future investigations into disease pathogenesis, prognosis, and management.

Lab-on-a-chip technologies for minimally invasive molecular sensing of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common diabetic eye disease and the worldwide leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. It progresses from mild to severe non-proliferative or proliferative DR based on several pathological features including the magnitude of blood-retinal barrier breakdown and neovascularization. Available pharmacological and retinal laser photocoagulation interventions are mostly applied in the advanced stages of DR and are inefficient in halting disease progression in a significantly high percentage of patients. Yet, recent evidence has shown that some therapies could potentially limit DR progression if applied at early stages, highlighting the importance of early disease diagnostics. In the past few decades, different imaging modalities have proved their utility for examining retinal and optic nerve changes in patients with retinal diseases. However, imaging based-methodologies solely rely on morphological examination of the retinal vascularization and are not suitable for recurrent and personalized patient evaluation. This raises the need for new technologies to enable accurate and early diagnosis of DR. In this review, we critically discuss the potential clinical benefit of minimally-invasive molecular biomarker identification and profiling of diabetic patients who are at risk of developing DR. We provide a comparative overview of conventional and recently developed lab-on-a-chip technologies for quantitative assessment of potential DR molecular biomarkers and discuss their advantages, current limitations and challenges for future practical implementation and continuous patient monitoring at the point-of-care.

Novel Biomarkers of Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease-Latest Insights in the Research Field

The atherosclerotic vascular disease is a cardiovascular continuum in which the main role is attributed to atherosclerosis, from its appearance to its associated complications. The increasing prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, population ageing, and burden on both the economy and the healthcare system have led to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the field. The better understanding or discovery of new pathophysiological mechanisms and molecules modulating various signaling pathways involved in atherosclerosis have led to the development of potential new biomarkers, with key role in early, subclinical diagnosis. The evolution of technological processes in medicine has shifted the attention of researchers from the profiling of classical risk factors to the identification of new biomarkers such as midregional pro-adrenomedullin, midkine, stromelysin-2, pentraxin 3, inflammasomes, or endothelial cell-derived extracellular vesicles. These molecules are seen as future therapeutic targets associated with decreased morbidity and mortality through early diagnosis of atherosclerotic lesions and future research directions.

The Long Pentraxin PTX3 as a New Biomarker and Pharmacological Target in Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are multifactorial, neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases of the eye primarily involving cellular and molecular components of the outer and inner blood-retina barriers (BRB), respectively. Largely contributed by genetic factors, particularly polymorphisms in complement genes, AMD is a paradigm of retinal immune dysregulation. DR, a major complication of diabetes mellitus, typically presents with increased vascular permeability and occlusion of the retinal vasculature that leads, in the proliferative form of the disease, to neovascularization, a pathogenic trait shared with advanced AMD. In spite of distinct etiology and clinical manifestations, both pathologies share common drivers, such as chronic inflammation, either of immune (in AMD) or metabolic (in DR) origin, which initiates and propagates degeneration of the neural retina, yet the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. As a soluble pattern recognition molecule with complement regulatory functions and a marker of vascular damage, long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is emerging as a novel player in ocular homeostasis and a potential pharmacological target in neurodegenerative disorders of the retina. Physiologically present in the human eye and induced in inflammatory conditions, this protein is strategically positioned at the BRB interface, where it acts as a “molecular trap” for complement, and modulates inflammation both in homeostatic and pathological conditions. Here, we discuss current viewpoints on PTX3 and retinal diseases, with a focus on AMD and DR, the roles therein proposed for this pentraxin, and their implications for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide gene expression differences identifies promising targets for type 2 diabetes mellitus

AIMS/INTRODUCTION

Due to the heterogeneous nature of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complex effects on hemodynamics, there is a need to identify new candidate markers which are involved in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and can serve as potential targets. As the global diabetes prevalence in 2019 was estimated as 9.3% (463 million people), rising to 10.2% (578 million) by 2030 and 10.9% (700 million) by 2045, the need to limit this rapid prevalence is of concern. The study aims to identify the possible biomarkers of type 2 diabetes mellitus with the help of the system biology approach using R programming.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Several target proteins that were found to be associated with the source genes were further curated for their role in type 2 diabetes mellitus. The differential expression analysis provided 50 differentially expressed genes by pairwise comparison between the biologically comparable groups out of which eight differentially expressed genes were short-listed. These DEGs were as follows: MCL1, PTX3, CYP3A4, PTGS1, SSTR2, SERPINA3, TDO2, and GALNT7.

RESULTS

The cluster analysis showed clear differences between the control and treated groups. The functional relationship of the signature genes showed a protein-protein interaction network with the target protein. Moreover, several transcriptional factors such as DBX2, HOXB7, POU3F4, MSX2, EBF1, and E4F1 showed association with these identified differentially expressed genes.

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlighted the important markers for diabetes mellitus that have shown interaction with other proteins having a role in the progression of diabetes mellitus that can serve as new targets in the management of DM.

Role of sodium glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors dapagliflozin on diabetic nephropathy in rats; Inflammation, angiogenesis and apoptosis

AIMS

Diabetic nephropathy is a major cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal failure worldwide. Dapagliflozin Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor is a new class of diabetic medications prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The current study investigates the possible impact of dapagliflozin (DAPA) on inflammations, apoptosis, angiogenesis and fibrosis in early-stage diabetic nephropathy using a rat model of type 2 diabetes.

MAIN METHODS

Rats were divided into five groups, group1: normal vehicle group, group 2: diabetic group, group 3: diabetic+ DAPA (0.75 mg/kg), group 4: diabetic+DAPA (1.5 mg/kg), group 5: diabetic+DAPA (3 mg/kg). At the end of the study, Blood glucose level was measured. Serum insulin, BUN, and SCr were measured. Insulin resistance was determined using the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index. Renal tissue homogenization was done for assessment of inflammatory markers TNF-α, PEDF, and PTX-3, In addition to apoptosis markers BCL-2 and BAX. Histopathological examinations were done for tubular renal cells and immunohistochemical examination for fibrosis marker α-SMA and angiogenic factor VEGF.

KEY FINDINGS

Treatments with dapagliflozin showed improvements in histopathological examinations, inflammatory and apoptotic markers compared to diabetic vehicles in a dose-dependent manner.

SIGNIFICANCE

Thus, dapagliflozin may have renoprotective effects, which be promising in diabetic patients suffered from nephropathy.

Biomarkers of vascular disease in diabetes: the adipose-immune system cross talk

Experimental and clinical studies aimed at investigating the mechanism(s) underlying vascular complications of diabetes indicate that a great number of molecules are involved in the pathogenesis of these complications. Most of these molecules are inflammatory mediators or markers generated by immune or adipose tissue. Some of them, i.e. resistin and sortilin, have been shown to be involved in the cross talk between adipocytes and inflammatory cells. This interaction is an attractive area of research, particularly in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Other proteins, such as adiponectin and visfatin, appear to be more promising as possible vascular markers. In addition, some molecules involved in calcium/phosphorus metabolism, such as klotho and FGF23, have an involvement in the pathogenesis of diabetic vasculopathy, which appears to be dependent on the degree of vascular impairment. Inflammatory markers are a promising tool for treatment decisions while measuring plasma levels of adipokines, sortilin, Klotho and FGF23 in adequately sized longitudinal studies is expected to allow a more precise characterization of diabetic vascular disease and the optimal use of personalized treatment strategies.

Proportional correlates of cystatin-C with pentraxin-3, visceral adiposity index and atherogenicity index of plasma but not blood indices in metabolic syndrome patients with and without prediabetes

Background Pentraxin-3 (PXT-3) and cystatin-C (Cys-C) are robustly related with central obesity and insulin resistance in prediabetes/metabolic syndrome (preDM-MetS). Materials and methods This cross-sectional study aimed to compare and correlate PXT-3 and Cys-C plasma levels in 29 normoglycemic MetS patients, 30 newly diagnosed drug naive preDM-MetS cases vs. 29 normoglycemic lean controls. Results Unlike PXT-3; Cys-C level was significantly higher in normoglycemic MetS (but not preDM-MetS) vs. healthy controls. Except for fasting blood glucose (FBG) and HbA1c; no further intergroup discrepancy could be identified between the MetS arms. Adiposity indices [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist/height ratio (WHtR), body adiposity index (BAI) and lipid accumulation product (LAP) but not conicity index (CI)], atherogenicity index of plasma (AIP) (but not non-high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (nonHDL)-C, non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio or total cholesterol (TC)/HDL-C ratio) or any of blood indices were substantially higher in both MetS (normoglycemic and preDM) groups vs. controls. Low density lipoprotein (LDL)-C/HDL-C ratio, visceral adiposity index (VAI) and WHR were exceptionally greater in MetS-preDM vs. controls. Marked proportional PTX-3-Cys-C correlation was noted in 59 MetS participants (normoglycemic and preDM). PTX-3 (but not Cys-C) correlated proportionally with each of neutrophils, monocyte/lymphocyte ratio and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio but inversely with the lymphocyte count. Substantially, Cys-C (but not PXT-3) positively associated with both VAI and AIP but inversely with HDL-C. Neither biomarker in MetS pool had relations with red blood cell distribution width-coefficient of variation (RDW-CV%), BMI, WC, HC, CI, WHR, WHtR, BAI, LAP, non-HDL-C, ratios of non-HDL-C/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C or TC/HDL-C. Conclusion PXT-3 and Cys-C can be surrogate prognostic/diagnostic biomarkers or putative MetS therapy targets.

Relationship between serum Pentraxin 3 and pro-adrenomedullin levels with acute cholecystitis

OBJECTIVES

The perforation of the gallbladder (GP) is one of the most significant complications of acute cholecystitis. A biochemical marker indicating the GP has not been determined fully to date. Pentraxin 3 and pro-adrenomedullin (Pro-ADM) proteins are novel acute phase reactants. We aimed to investigate the relationship between serum Pentraxin 3 and Pro-ADM and the GP in patients with acute cholecystitis.

METHODS

This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with acute cholecystitis in a tertiary care emergency department during the six-month period. The acute cholecystitis patients were divided into two groups as with GP, and without GP. Additionally, patients with GP were evaluated according to pericholecystic fluid and gallbladder wall thickness. Serum levels of pro-ADM and pentraxin 3, WBC, CRP and sedimentation rate were measured in all patients.

RESULTS

A total of 60 patients with acute cholecystitis were included in the study. Pro-ADM and pentraxin 3 levels were significantly higher in patients with GP and the with pericholecystic free fluid (p < 0.0001). There was no significant relationship between serum pentraxin 3 and pro-ADM with gallbladder wall thickness (p > 0.05) According to the ROC analysis, serum Pentraxin 3 levels of ≥4.9 ng/mL could predict GP with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 85% and serum pro-ADM levels of ≥97 nmol/L with sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 95%.

CONCLUSION

Our study results reveal that serum Pentraxin 3 and pro-ADM may be novel biochemical parameters in the detection of GP in acute cholecystitis cases.