Integrated intraocular–plasma proteomics reveals conserved biomarkers for diabetic retinopathy progression: a multi-fluid biopsy study
Authors' conclusion
NFL represents a pan-stage biomarker for diabetic retinopathy progression, detectable through minimally invasive plasma testing, and is associated with risks of diabetic vascular complications.
Study context
- Population
- Aqueous humour from the Guangdong DR Multiple-Omics Study; validation in a US dataset; individuals with diabetes from the UK BiobankGuangdong DR Multiple-Omics Study 32 · UK Biobank 2,495
- Outcome
- Conserved biomarkers for DR progression
Methodological detailshigh-throughput proteomics (SomaScan v4.1), external validation, single-cell RNA-seq localisation in mouse model, cross-sectional and prospective cohort assessment
- High-throughput proteomics (SomaScan v4.1)
- External validation
- Single-cell RNA-seq localisation in mouse model
- Cross-sectional and prospective cohort assessment
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Candidate biomarkers with monotonic changes during DR progression
40
Conserved directional patterns in validation dataset (17 increasing, eight decreasing, all p<0.05)
25
Candidates localised to retinal neurons and glia, including NFL
15
Further findings
Baseline plasma NFL and DR vs controls (UK Biobank, cross-sectional)
| OR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Plasma NFL | 1.98 (1.61–2.42) | |
| 0.512Odds ratio (log scale) |
Baseline plasma NFL and incident DR (UK Biobank) · median follow-up of 12 years
| HR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Plasma NFL | 2.01 (1.48–2.73) | |
| 0.20.5125Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Baseline plasma NFL and incident microvascular complications (UK Biobank) · median follow-up of 12 years
| HR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Plasma NFL | 2.28 (1.94–2.69) | |
| 0.20.5125Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Baseline plasma NFL and incident macrovascular complications (UK Biobank) · median follow-up of 12 years
| HR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Plasma NFL | 1.49 (1.26–1.77) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Added value of plasma NFL to conventional risk factor model for DR
- Net reclassification improvement (NRI), 95% CI 0.042, 0.297
- 0.194
- Integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), 95% CI 0.003, 0.047
- 0.015
Original publication
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →