Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 3:13:846003.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.846003. eCollection 2022.

Vitreous Inflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines, Not Altered After Preoperative Adjunctive Conbercept Injection, but Associated With Early Postoperative Macular Edema in Patients With Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Hongyan Sun  1   2 , Wenjun Zou  2   3 , Zhengyu Zhang  2 , Darui Huang  2   4 , Jinxiang Zhao  1   2 , Bing Qin  1 , Ping Xie  2 , Aime Mugisha  2 , Qinghuai Liu  2 , Zizhong Hu  2
Affiliations

Vitreous Inflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines, Not Altered After Preoperative Adjunctive Conbercept Injection, but Associated With Early Postoperative Macular Edema in Patients With Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Hongyan Sun et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the influence of preoperative adjunctive anti-VEGF drug (Conbercept) on vitreous inflammatory cytokines and chemokines profiles and whether those cytokines were associated with early macular edema (ME) after surgery for patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

Methods: In this post hoc analysis of the CONCEPT clinical trial, subjects with PDR underwent vitrectomy were included and vitreous samples were collected at the start of vitrectomy. Levels of vitreous VEGF, 17 inflammatory cytokines, and 11 chemokines were measured using Luminex multiplex technology. Subjects were then divided into groups based on with (Pre-IV) or without (No-Pre-IV) preoperative intravitreous injection of Conbercept; with or without early ME after surgery.

Results: There was no difference between Pre-IV (13/30) and No-Pre-IV (7/29) concerning the ratio of patients with early ME (p = 0.17). After preoperative intravitreous injection of Conbercept, VEGF level dramatically decreased (p = 0.001), TNF-α (p = 0.002), and IP-10 (p = 0.018) increased in Pre-IV group. In patients with early ME after surgery, however, a number of cytokines increased, including IL-1β (p = 0.008), IL-2 (p = 0.023), IL-4 (p = 0.030), IL-9 (p = 0.02), IL-10 (p = 0.002), IL-12 (p = 0.001), IL-13 (p = 0.031), IL-17A (p = 0.008), TNF-α (p = 0.012), CXCL9 (p = 0.023), G-CSF (p = 0.019), MCP-1 (p = 0.048), and RANTES (p = 0.016).

Conclusion: We found the preoperative adjunctive Conbercept injection has limited influence on the levels of vitreous inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in PDR. The elevated levels of a series of cytokines might be associated with early inflammation after vitrectomy, which may lead to postoperative ME.

Keywords: anti-VEGF; chemokines; cytokines; inflammation; macular edema; proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

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
DME-related upregulated vitreous cytokines with statistical significance. DME, diabetic macular edema.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abraham J. R., Wykoff C. C., Arepalli S., Lunasco L., Yu H. J., Hu M., et al. (2021). Aqueous cytokine expression and higher order OCT biomarkers: assessment of the anatomic-biologic bridge in the IMAGINE DME Study. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 222 328–339. 10.1016/j.ajo.2020.08.047 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agrawal S., Joshi M., Christoforidis J. B. (2013). Vitreous inflammation associated with intravitreal anti-VEGF pharmacotherapy. Mediat. Inflamm. 2013:943409. 10.1155/2013/943409 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banerjee P. J., Quartilho A., Bunce C., Xing W., Zvobgo T. M., Harris N., et al. (2017). Slow-release dexamethasone in proliferative vitreoretinopathy: a prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial. Ophthalmology 124 757–767. 10.1016/j.ophtha.2017.01.021 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cacciamani A., Esposito G., Scarinci F., Parravano M., Dinice L., Di Nicola M., et al. (2019). Inflammatory mediators in the vitreal reflux of patients with diabetic macular edema. Graefe’s Arch. Clin. Exp. Ophthalmol. 257 187–197. 10.1007/s00417-018-4169-4 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Castillo J., Aleman I., Rush S. W., Rush R. B. (2017). Preoperative bevacizumab administration in proliferative diabetic retinopathy patients undergoing vitrectomy: a randomized and controlled trial comparing interval variation. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 183 1–10. - PubMed