Circulating antipericyte autoantibodies: A Novel Modifier of Risk of Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy?

Ramesh Nayak, Kristian Lynch, Carin Gustavsson, Michael Kwok, Pamela Farthing-Nayak, Carl-David Agardh, Elisabet Agardh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Antipericyte autoantibodies (APAAs) are present in high frequency among diabetic subjects with and without nonproliferative retinopathy. This study aimed to determine whether progression of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes was associated with the same medical risk factors in APAA-positive subjects as in APAA-negative subjects. Methods: Type 2 diabetic patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy at baseline were followed prospectively for 2 years monitoring progression of retinopathy. Thirty-eight (21.7%) of 175 patients had progression in Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grade by >= 2 steps in at least 1 eye. Serum APAAs were detected by immunofluorescence on tissue-cultured bovine retinal pericytes. Results: Progression of retinopathy was associated with HbA(1c) level (P = 0.002), diabetes duration (P = 0.03), and albumin/creatinine ratio (P = 0.02) in APAA-negative subjects but not in APAA-positive subjects. The association between progression and APAAs was strongest in the upper quartile for HbA(1c) level (>8.0%), where 71.4% of patients negative for APAAs had progression of retinopathy while only 24.1 % of patients positive for APAAs had progression (P = 0.007). Conclusion: The results suggest that APAA presence is a modifier of risk of progression of retinopathy due to hyperglycemia and that it could be useful as a biochemical marker of risk of progression of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients with poor metabolic control.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)211-215
JournalRetina
Volume27
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Endocrinology and Diabetes

Free keywords

  • circulating antipericyte autoantibodies
  • retinopathy
  • progression
  • type 2 diabetes

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