Clinic of Ophthalmology and Ocular Oncology, University Hospital, 31-501 Krakow, Poland.
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Ocular Oncology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-501 Krakow, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Oct 6;25(19):10748. doi: 10.3390/ijms251910748.
To evaluate the plasma levels of angiopoietin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and their association with macular neovascularization (MNV) in patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (cCSC). Correlations between plasma cytokine levels, CSC duration, and mean choroidal thickness (CT) were also investigated. Of the 59 patients with cCSC, 10 patients with MNV secondary to cCSC and 10 patients with cCSC without MNV were enrolled in the study. The control group included 15 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, smoking status, and comorbidities. Chronic CSC was diagnosed based on typical findings on swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus fluorescein angiography, and indocyanine green angiography. Additionally, all patients underwent OCT angiography to help detect MNV. Plasma angiopoietin-1 and VEGF levels were assessed using multiplex immunoassay. The plasma angiopoietin-1 levels differed between the 3 groups ( = 0.005). The angiopoietin-1 levels were lower in patients with cCSC with MNV than in controls ( = 0.006). There were no differences in the plasma VEGF levels between all the 3 groups ( = 0.329). The VEGF levels were negatively correlated with mean CT in cCSC patients with MNV (rho = -0.683, = 0.042) but correlated positively with disease duration in patients with cCSC without MNV (rho = 0.886, = 0.003). Our study confirms that MNV is a common complication of cCSC and provides new insights into the role of angiopoietin-1 in cCSC and MNV. Reduced angiopoietin-1 levels in cCSC patients, regardless of MNV status, highlight the importance of the Ang-Tie2 pathway in disease pathogenesis and may point to new therapeutic targets and future novel treatments to improve the management of these patients.
评估慢性中心性浆液性脉络膜视网膜病变（cCSC）患者的血管生成素-1（angiopoietin-1）和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）的血浆水平及其与黄斑新生血管（MNV）的关系。还研究了血浆细胞因子水平、CSC 持续时间和平均脉络膜厚度（CT）之间的相关性。在 59 例 cCSC 患者中，纳入了 10 例继发于 cCSC 的 MNV 患者和 10 例无 MNV 的 cCSC 患者。对照组包括 15 名年龄、性别、吸烟状况和合并症相匹配的健康志愿者。慢性 CSC 根据扫频源光学相干断层扫描（OCT）、眼底荧光血管造影和吲哚青绿血管造影的典型发现进行诊断。此外，所有患者均进行 OCT 血管造影以帮助检测 MNV。使用多重免疫测定法评估血浆血管生成素-1 和 VEGF 水平。3 组患者的血浆血管生成素-1 水平不同（ = 0.005）。cCSC 伴 MNV 患者的血管生成素-1 水平低于对照组（ = 0.006）。3 组患者的血浆 VEGF 水平无差异（ = 0.329）。MNV 患者的 cCSC 中 VEGF 水平与平均 CT 呈负相关（rho = -0.683， = 0.042），但与无 MNV 的 cCSC 患者的疾病持续时间呈正相关（rho = 0.886， = 0.003）。我们的研究证实 MNV 是 cCSC 的常见并发症，并为血管生成素-1 在 cCSC 和 MNV 中的作用提供了新的见解。cCSC 患者无论是否存在 MNV，血管生成素-1 水平降低均强调了 Ang-Tie2 途径在疾病发病机制中的重要性，并可能指向新的治疗靶点和未来的新型治疗方法，以改善这些患者的管理。
