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Review
. 2022 Feb 2:9:840030.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.840030. eCollection 2022.

Novel Potential Biomarkers for Retinopathy of Prematurity

Wei Tan  1   2 , Bingyan Li  1   2 , Zicong Wang  1   2 , Jingling Zou  1   2 , Yang Jia  3 , Shigeo Yoshida  4 , Yedi Zhou  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Novel Potential Biomarkers for Retinopathy of Prematurity

Wei Tan et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the main risk factor for vision-threatening disease in premature infants with low birth weight. An accumulating number of independent studies have focused on ROP pathogenesis and have demonstrated that laser photocoagulation therapy and/or anti-VEGF treatment are effective. However, early diagnosis of ROP is still critical. At present, the main method of ROP screening is based on binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy. However, the judgment of whether ROP occurs and whether treatment is necessary depends largely on ophthalmologists with a great deal of experience. Therefore, it is essential to develop a simple, accurate and effective diagnostic method. This review describes recent findings on novel biomarkers for the prediction, diagnosis and prognosis of ROP patients. The novel biomarkers were separated into the following categories: metabolites, cytokines and growth factors, non-coding RNAs, iconography, gut microbiota, oxidative stress biomarkers, and others. Biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity are urgently needed for the clinical applications of ROP. In addition, using non-invasive or minimally invasive methods to obtain samples is also important. Our review provides an overview of potential biomarkers of ROP.

Keywords: biomarker; cytokines and growth factors; gut microbiota; iconography; metabolites; non-coding RNAs; oxidative stress biomarkers; retinopathy of prematurity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Novel potential biomarkers for ROP, including metabolites, cytokines and growth factors, ncRNAs, iconography, gut microbiota, oxidative stress biomarkers and others.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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