Blood and aqueous humor tumstatin concentrations associated with diabetic retinopathy

Aim: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the most common microvascular complication of Diabetes Mellitus (DM). This study was carried out to determine blood and aqueous humor tumstatin level in patients (DM + cataract, in patients (DR+cataract), and patients only having cataract. Methods: Blood and aqueous humor were collected from patients. Tumstatin measurement is performed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays in Biological Samples (ELISA). Results: Blood and aqueous humor tumstatin were significantly raised in patients (diabetes mellitus + cataract) and in patients (diabetic retinopathy+cataract) as compared to patients only having cataract (their p values were less than 0.05). Aqueous humor tumstatin were higher than blood tumstatin having p values, 0.001. Conclusion: Taken together, these results demonstrate that diabetic retinopathy is associated with high levels of tumstatin and this peptide might be a novel potential therapeutic agent in diabetic retinopathy in the future.