Increased pregnancy-associated plasma protein A in retinal vein occlusion

The aim of this study was to evaluate pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) levels in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and to investigate its possible role as a predictive biomarker.

The study included 26 patients with RVO and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects as controls. PAPP-A levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The PAPP-A levels in patients with RVO were compared with those in the control group using the Mann-Whitney U test.

The mean serum PAPP-A levels were 1.27 ± 0.46 mIU/L (mean ± standard deviation) in the RVO group and 1.14 ± 0.11 mIU/L in the control group. There was a significant difference in PAPP-A levels between RVO patients and healthy subjects (p = 0.03). Moreover, in ROC analysis comparing the RVO patients and controls, a cutoff value of 1.126 (AUC: 0.669), specificity of 63.3% and sensitivity of 76.9% were calculated for the RVO patients (p = 0.03).

Our data seems to support the roles of both thrombosis and atherosclerosis in the development of RVO. It is possible that PAPP-A may be involved in the pathogenesis of venous thrombosis in the retina.