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Endothelial progenitor cell counts associated with stages of diabetic retinopathy
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009;50(1):392-398.
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A significant increase in endothelial progenitor cells was associated with proliferative diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 1 diabetes, and a reduction in progenitor cells was associated with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Circulating endothelial progenitor cells may induce blood vessel formation, tumor vascularization and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Severity of diabetic retinopathy has been linked with cardiovascular risk in patients with type 1 diabetes.
“More and larger studies are needed to clarify whether measuring [endothelial progenitor cells] levels is helpful for early identification of patients at risk in the diagnostic or therapeutic routine management of diabetic eye disease,” the study said.
The case-control study included 90 patients with type 1 diabetes with and without diabetic retinopathy: 30 without diabetic retinopathy, 30 with mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 10 with moderate to severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 10 with mild to moderate proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 10 with high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Patients had a mean age of 41 years.
According to the results, endothelial progenitor cells were reduced in mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and unchanged in mild to moderate proliferative diabetic retinopathy. However, mature endothelial progenitor cells were numerous in high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy.