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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Holly Duncan, Professor David SteelORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© The Author(s) 2026. This study aimed to identify aqueous humor (AQ) proteins that correlate with vitreous humor (VH) levels in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Using paired VH and AQ samples from 41 patients undergoing vitrectomy for PDR, we measured 92 protein biomarkers via a high-throughput immunoassay. We assessed Spearman correlations between AQ and VH levels for each protein and associations with PDR severity parameters. Thirty-two proteins showed positive AQ-VH correlations. A stepwise selection process, based on detectability, consistency and correlation strength narrowed this down to 21 proteins. An exploratory analysis of associations with disease severity parameters suggested that of these proteins, CXCL-10, IL-8, and MCP-4 were most strongly associated with fibrosis, while GAL-9 and PGF were most strongly associated with the extent of neovascularization, supporting the potential of these proteins as useful biomarkers. In conclusion, 21 AQ proteins show significant correlation with patient-matched VH levels in PDR patients, indicating that relative patient-level differences in AQ reflect relative differences in VH for these proteins. This methodological framework provides a foundation for future studies aiming to identify diagnostic or treatment stratification biomarkers for PDR and related complications such as diabetic macular edema.
Author(s): Klaassen I, Tanck MWT, Duncan HJ, Yildiz E, Schlingemann RO, Steel DHW
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2026
Volume: 16
Online publication date: 06/06/2026
Acceptance date: 28/05/2026
Date deposited: 01/09/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55988-7
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-55988-7
Data Access Statement: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
PubMed id: 42251096
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