Vitreous levels of vascular endothelial growth factor, stromal cell–derived factor-1α, and angiopoietin-like protein 2 in patients with active proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Purpose To determine the vitreous levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), stromal cell–derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) and angiopoietin-like protein 2 (ANGPTL2) in patients with active proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and to ascertain their contribution on different clinical presentation of active PDR. Methods This case–control study included 31 eyes with active PDR and 10 eyes with idiopathic macular hole (MH) (control group). Eyes with active PDR were divided into three subgroups: vitreous hemorrhage (VH), tractional retinal detachment (TRD) caused by active fibrovascular membrane (FVM), and coexistence of VH and TRD with FVM. Vitreous samples obtained during vitrectomy were analyzed for concentrations of VEGF, SDF-1α, and ANGPTL2. Results Vitreous level of VEGF (2021 (168–6550) pg/ml vs 110.1 (74.5–236) pg/ml), SDF-1α (517 (194–1044) pg/ml vs 388 (320–535) pg/ml), and ANGPTL2 (725 (131–1590) ng/ml vs 196 (75.9–437) ng/ml) were significantly higher in eyes with active PDR than in control group ( p