Association Between Serum VEGF,Plasma VEGF and Diabetic Retinopathy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Kuai Jingjing; Ji Jianwei

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-5775.2025.13.001

Abstract：Objective:To investigate the association between serum VEGF and diabetic retinopathy(DR)in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods:105 T2DM patients were selected,including 40 patients with non-diabetic retinopathy(NDR),35 patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy(NPDR)and 30 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR);and another 40 healthy individuals were selected as normal control(NC)group.Serum and plasma VEGF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay(ELISA).Results:The expression of serum VEGF level increased successively in the normal control group,NDR group,NPDR group and PDR,with statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).The expression of plasma VEGF levels in the NDR group,NPDR group and PDR group was all higher than that NC group,with no statistically significant difference(P＞0.05).The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that serum VEGF level was an independent risk factor for DR In patients with T2DM,while plasma VEGF level had no significant correlation with the relative risk degree of DR(P＞0.05).Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis showed that the area under the curve(AUC)of serum VEGF in diagnosing DR in patients with T2DM was 0.837.When the optimal cut-off value of 221.83 pg/mL was taken,the corresponding sensitivity was 75.4%,and the specificity was 72.5%.The AUC of plasma VEGF in the diagnosis of DR was 0.593.Conclusion:Compared with plasma VEGF,serum VEGF levels can better reflect the severity of DR in T2DM patients,and can have better diagnostic performance for T2DM complicated with DR.