[Research progress of vascular endothelial tip cells in diabetic retinopathy]

Tip cells are one kind of vascular endothelial cells. Migration and sprouting of tip cells is the first step of angiogenesis. In recent years, researchers found a large number of tip endothelial cells in new blood vessels of diabetic retinopathy patients and animal models. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates the migration and budding of tip cells and dissolves the extracellular matrix. Pericyte recruitment guided by the VEGF-DLL-Notch signal pathway is necessary for neovascularization. The change of miRNA in tip cells is also involved in the regulation of angiogenesis. This paper focuses on the mechanism of endothelial tip cells in diabetic retinopathy and prospects for the future research of anti-angiogenesis drug targets.