Glial Cell Line–Derived Neurotrophic Factor in the Vitreous of Patients With Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy
- Nami Nishikiori, MD1,
- Yoshinori Mitamura, MD1,
- Asako Tashimo, MD1,
- Yasushi Nakamura, MD1,
- Takayuki Harada, MD2,
- Makoto Osanai, MD3,
- Norimasa Sawada, MD3 and
- Kenji Ohtsuka, MD1
- 1Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan
- 2Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Tokyo, Japan
- 3Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan
- Address correspondence to Nami Nishikiori, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, S-1, W-16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8543, Japan. E-mail: ninami{at}sapmed.ac.jp
Glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) belongs to the neurotrophic factor family. GDNF functions are not restricted to neurons but are also implicated in glial cell development (1). We observed high expression levels of GDNF receptor family α-component 2 (GFRα2) in epiretinal membranes (ERMs) in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), indicating the involvement of GFRα2 in ERM formation in PDR (2). Here, we examined the vitreous of patients with PDR for the presence of GDNF.
We assayed GDNF levels in …
