EVALUATING SERUM LAMININ AND INSULIN LIKE GROWTH FACTOR 1 AS RISK FACTORS FOR PROLIFERATIVE DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Abstract

Serum levels of both laminin and IGF-1 exhibited significant elevation in the four diabetic groups studied compared with control subjects ( p < 0.0001 ). Furthermore, serum levels of IGF-1 exhibited significant elevation in diabetics with proliferative retinopathy compared to those without retinopathy (p < 0.05 in type I , p < 0.0001 in type II diabetics ), whereas serum laminin levels exhibited insignificant differences between diabetics with proliferative retinopathy and those without proliferative retinopathy but its levels were still higher in both diabetic groups than control subjects. These data suggest that IGF-1 but not laminin might play a role in the pathogenesis of proliferative retinopathy and should be evaluated as a prognostic biochemical marker for proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Furthermore , results of this work demonstrate that in all diabetic groups studied, there was a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IGF1 and serum levels of laminin ( p< 0.001), there was also a significant positive correlation between serum levels of either IGF1 or laminin and glycosylated haemoglobin levels (p< 0.001 for laminin and p < 0.01 for IGF1). there was also a significant positive correlation betWeen serum levels of either IGF1 or laminin and the duration of diabetes (P<0.001). On the contrary, there was a significant inverse correlation between serum levels of IGF1 and age of patients in all diabetic groups (p<0.001).