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Pericyte Status in Routinely Discarded Vitrectomy Samples May Be an Early Marker of Diabetic Retinopathy
Pablo Zoroquiain1, Natalia Vila, Vasco Bravo-Filho
1Henry C. Witelson Ocular Pathology Laboratory, McGill University, Montreal, Que., Canada.
Background:
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness among the working-age population. The earliest morphological manifestation of the disease is pericyte loss, as shown by animal models.
Aims:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of pericytes in vitreous samples (VS) from diabetic and nondiabetic patients.
Methods:
VS from 125 patients with and without diabetes were analyzed. Thirty-three of the VS contained blood vessels and were therefore included in further analysis. Pericyte status was evaluated using α-smooth muscle actin and quantified using the following scoring system: total loss (3), >50% loss (2), <50% loss (1), and no loss (0).
Results:
Of the 33 VS, 29 samples were from patients with diabetes and 4 from nondiabetic patients. Six diabetic cases had a score of 1, 8 diabetic cases had a score of 2, and 15 cases had a score of 3. A positive correlation between glycemia levels and pericyte loss was observed (p = 0.0016; Spearman's r = 0.61). Moreover, all nondiabetic cases had a score of 0 (sensitivity and specificity = 100%).
Conclusion:
Pericyte loss in VS might be a sensitive and specific marker of DR that correlates with glycemia levels. Furthermore, VS, which are currently discarded, may contain valuable information for diabetic management.
