Elevated RBP4 plasma levels were associated with diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes

Abstract

The retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) has been postulated to play a role in glucose homeostasis, insulin resistance, and diabetes mellitus in human and animal studies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of RBP4 in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without diabetic retinopathy (DR). Plasma RBP4 concentrations were tested in 287 patients with type 2 diabetes. At baseline, demographic and clinical information including presence of DR and vision-threatening DR (VTDR) was collected. The relationship between RBP4 and DR (VTDR) was investigated using logistic regression. Patients with DR or VTDR had significantly higher plasma levels of RBP4 on admission (P<0.0001). Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) to predict DR and VDTR demonstrated areas under the curve for RBP4 of 0.79 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73–0.85) and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85–0.94), respectively, which were superior to other factors. For each 1 μg/ml increase in plasma level of RBP4, the unadjusted and adjusted risk of DR would be increased by 8% (with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.05–1.13), P<0.001) and 5% (1.05 (1.02–1.11), P=0.001), respectively. It was 12% (with the OR of 1.12 (95% CI: 1.07–1.18), P<0.001) and 9% (1.09 (1.05–1.15), P<0.001) for VTDR. The present study shows that elevated plasma levels of RBP4 were associated with DR and VDTR in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes, suggesting a possible role of RBP4 in the pathogenesis of DR complications. Lowering RBP4 could be a new strategy for treating type 2 diabetes with DR.

Role of long non‑coding RNA MALAT1 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…lncRNAs associated with COPD are largely unknown; thus, the present study profiled the expression of six lncRNAs (HULC, NEAT1, HOTAIR, MEG3, MALAT1, and UCA1) based on those that were previously demonstrated to be associated with a variety of lung diseases (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), and MALAT1 was identified as a potential biomarker of COPD. The mechanism by which MALAT1 facilitates the pathogenesis of COPD with TGF-β induction may be similar to a previous study that examined the lncRNA TUG1 in COPD patients (28). Thus, it would be worthwhile to determine the effect of MALAT1 in combination with TUG1 and its effect on COPD diagnosis.…”

“…The following thermocycling conditions were used: Initial denaturation at 95˚C for 5 min; 42 cycles of 95˚C for 5 sec and 60˚C for 30 sec; and a final extension at 72˚C for 5 min. The lncRNA targets were selected based on a literature search for lncRNAs that were associated with lung disease (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32) and included the following targets: Highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC), nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1), HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR), maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3), MALAT1 and urothelial cancer associated 1 (UCA1). The primer pairs used for amplification in qPCR are provided in Table I.…”

Inflammatory and angiogenic biomarkers in diabetic retinopathy

“…Several studies showed higher concentrations of CRP in patients with PDR in comparison to the patients with NPDR and those findings may support the results of the meta-analysis by Song et al . indicating that the CRP concentration may be used as a biomarker of DR severity ( 13 , 19 , 49 - 51 , 60 , 78 ). However, results regarding the value of CRP as a biomarker for DR due to inconclusive results should be clarified.…”

“…In an animal model, its overexpression was shown to be connected with early-onset microglia activation, progressive retinal degeneration, and increased expression of pro-IL-18 ( 77 ). In a cross-sectional study, Li et al found an association of elevated plasma concentrations of RBP4 with DR and vision-threatening DR (VTDR) in 92 Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes, suggesting its possible role in the pathogenesis of DR complications ( 78 ). Since RBP4 stimulates the expression of proinflammatory molecules in human retinal cells it may be part of the inflammatory pathogenetic process of DR development and may be considered as a biomarker of the early stages of retinopathy ( 71 , 77 ).…”

Plasmapheresis in Ophthalmology

“…The factor of hyperglycemia is the predominant risk factor for DR in type I diabetes, while hypertension -in type II diabetes [11]. It is important to increase the level of retinol-bound protein 4 (RBP4) [12], uric acid [13], and obesity [14]. At the same time, microcirculation and metabolism disorders are closely related, often forming a vicious circle [15].…”