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Serum lycopene may be important in identifying oxidative stress in diabetic retinopathy
Eur J Ophthalmol. 2010;20(4):719-723.
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Serum lycopene levels may be a useful biomarker for diagnosing and evaluating patients with diabetic retinopathy, according to a study.
In a review of 71 patients with type 2 diabetes and 23 nondiabetic controls, lycopene levels were significantly lower in diabetic patients. According to the study, "subjects with proliferative diabetic retinopathy had significantly lower lycopene levels than subjects without diabetic retinopathy or with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy."
The findings add to the growing body of evidence supporting the theory that oxidative stress plays a role in development of microvascular complications in patients with diabetes, the study authors noted. Lycopene has been recognized in previous studies for its potential role in preventing oxidative stress-related disease.
"However, because of the cross-sectional nature of our study, firm conclusions regarding the causal relationship cannot be drawn," the study authors wrote. "Measuring lycopene may be a novel method for evaluating severity of [diabetic retinopathy] in patients with type 2 diabetes, and may be helpful for the diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of [diabetic retinopathy]."
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