Association of Plasma Pentraxin-3 Levels with Retinopathy and Systemic Factors in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Plasma PTX-3 levels may be a valuable predictor of DR-like factors such as duration of diabetes, hypertension, and UACR. Although inflammation has an important role in DR, we think that biomarkers reflecting inflammation is not sufficient to predict development and progression of DR; but follow up with PTX-3 levels along with ophthalmological evaluation may be useful. A single determination may not reflect the variations over time, so repeat measures may provide knowledge if PTX-3 is just a biomarker or has a causal role.

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

“…This has prompted investigations into the role of PTX3 as a marker of disease in DR, with conflicting outcomes. In fact, higher PTX3 levels have been documented in the plasma (or serum) of DR patients, compared to that of diabetics with no retinopathy or non-diabetic volunteers (Yang et al, 2014;Zhou and Hu, 2016;Erdenen et al, 2018;Elbana et al, 2019), however these findings have not been recapitulated in other studies (Chodkowski et al, 2018;Hokazono et al, 2018;Güngel et al, 2021). Such lack of consistency is likely due to high variability in the plasmatic concentration of PTX3 in diabetic patients, as a reflection of varying extents of hyperglycemiadependent damage to tissues and vascular beds.…”