The relationship between plasma serglycin levels and the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy

BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a microvascular complication which is closely related to diabetes, remains the leading cause of vision loss around the world among older adults. Serglycin (SRGN) was known as a hematopoietic cell granule proteoglycan, exerting its function in the formation of mast cell secretory granules and mediates the storage of various compounds in secretory vesicles. The present study illustrates the potential clinical value and experimental mechanisms of SRGN in the DR. METHODS: Firstly, the mRNA expression and protein expression of SRGN in plasma samples from NPDR, PDR patients, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2Dm) cases, and healthy controls were measured by qPCR and Western blotting assays, respectively. Then, the potentials of SRGN functioning as a diagnostic indicator in DR were verified by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. We established in vitro DR model of human retinal endothelial cells through high‐glucose treatment. The expression of SRGN and its mechanisms of regulating cellular processes were illustrated subsequently. RESULTS: Our data revealed that SRGN was dramatically upregulated in NPDR and PDR cases compared with healthy controls and T2DM patients; meanwhile, the expression of SRGN was further increased in the PDR group with regard to the NPDR group. Furthermore, the ROC analysis demonstrated that SRGN could distinguish the DR cases from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and healthy controls with the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.7680 (95% CI = 0.6780 ~ 0.8576, sensitivity = 47.27%, specificity = 100%, cutoff value = 1.4727) and 0.8753 (95% CI = 0.8261 ~ 0.9244, sensitivity = 69.23%, specificity = 100%, cutoff value = 1.6923), respectively. In vitro high‐glucose treatment showed that the SRGN expressions were dramatically increased. The loss of SRGN could partially counteract the inhibition of HREC proliferation caused by high‐glucose stimulation. Meanwhile, SRGN knockdown could reverse the promotion of HREC apoptosis induced by high glucose as well. CONCLUSIONS: Consequently, our study implied that SRGN might serve as a promising biomarker with high specificity and sensitivity in the DR diagnosis and progression.