Department of Ophthalmology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Ophthalmic Res. 2022;65(3):351-360. doi: 10.1159/000522365. Epub 2022 Feb 2.
The accumulation of lipofuscin is a hallmark in the pathogenesis of Stargardt disease type 1 (STGD1) and geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Limiting lipofuscin accumulation by inhibiting the retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is being explored as a potential treatment target for those diseases. In this study, we aimed to establish the concentration of RBP4 in the systemic circulation in different age cohorts of healthy individuals and to check if patients with STGD1 or GA may show abnormal RBP4 levels.
Forty healthy subjects of various age-groups, 15 Stargardt patients, and 15 GA patients were included in the study. We measured RBP4 levels, serum retinol (SR) levels, complete blood count, and blood chemistry including liver function tests.
Mean RBP4 for all cohorts was 26,911.40 ± 6,198.61 ng/mL, and mean SR 1.75 ± 0.36 µmol/L. Age was not found to significantly impact levels neither of RBP4 and SR nor of the RBP4-to-SR ratio. Also, the 2 patient groups showed similar blood levels to their age-matched controls.
Serum RBP4 and SR do not appear to be affected by age in healthy individuals and remain within normal limits in both STGD1 and GA.
脂褐素的积累是 Stargardt 病 1 型（STGD1）和年龄相关性黄斑变性继发的地图状萎缩发病机制的一个标志。通过抑制视黄醇结合蛋白 4（RBP4）来限制脂褐素的积累，正被探索作为这些疾病的一种潜在治疗靶点。在这项研究中，我们旨在确定健康个体不同年龄组的循环系统中 RBP4 的浓度，并检查 STGD1 或 GA 患者是否可能显示异常的 RBP4 水平。
本研究纳入了 40 名不同年龄组的健康受试者、15 名 Stargardt 患者和 15 名 GA 患者。我们测量了 RBP4 水平、血清视黄醇（SR）水平、全血细胞计数以及包括肝功能检查在内的血液化学。
所有队列的平均 RBP4 为 26,911.40 ± 6,198.61 ng/mL，平均 SR 为 1.75 ± 0.36 µmol/L。年龄似乎并没有显著影响 RBP4 和 SR 的水平，也没有影响 RBP4 与 SR 的比值。此外，这两个患者组的血液水平与他们年龄匹配的对照组相似。
在健康个体中，血清 RBP4 和 SR 似乎不受年龄影响，并且在 STGD1 和 GA 中均保持在正常范围内。
