Gou Huaixue, Liu Juping
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Retinal Functions and Diseases, Tianjin Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Disease, Eye Institute and School of Optometry, Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, Tianjin, China.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2025 Mar 12;16:1496851. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1496851. eCollection 2025.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the predominant vision-threatening complication in individuals with diabetes mellitus. Timely diagnosis and intervention facilitate the prevention of diabetes-associated visual impairment. Classical imaging methods may prevent the timely detection of DR due to shortages of specialized facilities and retinal specialists, particularly in remote areas. In recent years, research on biomarkers related to DR has rapidly developed, playing an important role in risk assessment and early detection of the disease. Some ocular biomarkers from the vitreous body or aqueous humor were invasive, which hampered their application in clinical practice. Meanwhile, biomarkers based on omics were limited by their uneasily accessible use and complicated variables with a relatively low degree of reproducibility. As modern technology progresses, advanced non-ocular biomarkers of DR have established a comprehensive platform for the prompt identification of DR, independent of ophthalmic professionals or devices and accessible to non-ophthalmologists during community screenings. This review focuses on biomarkers derived from non-ocular sample sources, such as nailfold and skin, accessible through non-invasive methods, to reveal if they can be considered as an effective option for the early identification of DR by non-ophthalmologists in community screening initiatives.
糖尿病视网膜病变（DR）是糖尿病患者主要的视力威胁性并发症。及时诊断和干预有助于预防糖尿病相关的视力损害。由于缺乏专业设备和视网膜专科医生，尤其是在偏远地区，传统成像方法可能无法及时检测出DR。近年来，与DR相关的生物标志物研究迅速发展，在疾病风险评估和早期检测中发挥着重要作用。一些来自玻璃体或房水的眼部生物标志物具有侵入性，这阻碍了它们在临床实践中的应用。同时，基于组学的生物标志物受到使用不便和变量复杂、重现性相对较低的限制。随着现代技术的进步，先进的DR非眼部生物标志物已经建立了一个全面的平台，用于快速识别DR，无需眼科专业人员或设备，并且在社区筛查期间非眼科医生也可使用。本综述重点关注来自非眼部样本来源（如甲襞和皮肤）的生物标志物，这些生物标志物可通过非侵入性方法获取，以揭示它们是否可被视为社区筛查项目中非眼科医生早期识别DR的有效选择。
