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Intraocular growth factor may play role in diabetic eye disease

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BARCELONA, Spain — An insulin-like growth factor produced in the eye may play a role in preserving retinal homeostasis, according to a study here. Researchers found differences in levels of the substance, called insulin-like growth factor 1, in patients with and without proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Rafael Simó, MD, and colleagues here with Hospital General Vall d’Hebron measured levels of the substance in 36 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and in 28 patients without diabetes. Levels of vitreous and serum total free insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) were determined.

Vitreous levels of free IGF-1 were elevated in the group with diabetes compared to the group without diabetes. After adjusting for vitreal proteins, free IGF-1 levels were significantly lower in the group with diabetes than in the group without.

“Our results suggest that although there is an enhancement of intravitreous free IGF-1 in diabetic patients due to serum diffusion, a deficit in its intraocular production also exists,” the authors reported in Clinical Science.