Single-Cell Insights Into Diabetic Retinopathy Mechanisms

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among the working population worldwide. However, its pathogenesis is not fully understood, and effective prevention and treatment methods are limited. This study, initiated by Shanghai First People's Hospital, aims to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying its occurrence through methods such as single-cell sequencing, to identify new intervention targets. This study plans to collect retinal tissue samples from 3 patients each who underwent prosthetic eye implantation due to late-stage proliferative diabetic retinopathy blindness and from 3 normal cadaver donors at the Ophthalmology Department of Shanghai First People's Hospital for single-cell sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Additionally, samples of aqueous humor, vitreous fluid, and plasma will be collected from 30 patients with severe diabetic retinopathy requiring surgery and from 30 macular hole surgery patients without diabetic retinopathy. These samples will be subjected to experiments such as ELISA, qPCR, and Western Blot to validate sequencing results, investigate the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, and identify potential therapeutic targets.

Inclusion criteria

• For the single-cell sequencing group: Patients with advanced proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) resulting in blindness or ocular atrophy, who voluntarily opt for enucleation and ocular prosthesis implantation surgery, and have no systemic or local contraindications to surgery. For the validation group: patients with severe PDR lesions requiring vitrectomy, and who also have no systemic or local contraindications to surgery.
• Patients who voluntarily agree to participate in this clinical trial and sign the informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with severe systemic diseases such as autoimmune diseases or cancer