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. 2023 Jul;43(7):2247-2255.
doi: 10.1007/s10792-022-02620-y. Epub 2022 Dec 29.

Serum and vitreous vascular endothelial growth factor levels in diabetic retinopathy

Fatma Isil Sozen-Delil  1 , Osman Cekic  2 , Goncagul Haklar  3
Affiliations

Serum and vitreous vascular endothelial growth factor levels in diabetic retinopathy

Fatma Isil Sozen-Delil et al. Int Ophthalmol. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: To research whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels could be used to evaluate diabetic retinopathy (DR) progression and to compare vitreous VEGF levels after injections of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB), ranibizumab (IVR), and triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA) in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

Methods: We enrolled a total of 91 eyes of 89 subjects (70 eyes of 68 diabetics and 21 eyes of 21 non-diabetic controls). The diabetic subjects were divided into three groups as PDR (n = 28), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (n = 20), and no-DR (n = 20). Eyes with PDR (n = 31) were injected with IVB (n = 7), IVR (n = 10), or IVTA (n = 6) 3 days before vitrectomy, and eight eyes did not receive an injection. Serum and vitreous samples were collected before vitrectomy and analyzed using ELISA.

Results: We found the severity of retinopathy was not correlated with serum VEGF levels (P = .919, ρ = -0.011). Compared with the controls, vitreous VEGF was higher in the PDR (P < .001), whereas serum VEGF did not differ (P = .99). The controls had lower vitreous VEGF than the IVB, IVR, and no-injection subgroups (P = .01, P < .001, and P = .04, respectively). Vitreous VEGF was similar among the injected and no-injection subgroups (P = .17).

Conclusions: Serum VEGF levels may not directly reflect retinopathy progression. Neither IVB, IVR nor IVTA could eliminate vitreous VEGF levels within 3 days before vitrectomy.

Keywords: Bevacizumab; Diabetic retinopathy; Ranibizumab; Triamcinolone acetonide; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vitreous humor.

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