A Primary Study For The Effects Of IL-35 In Diabetic Retinopathy

PurposeIL-35 has been found to be involved in immune response and inflammation. This study was performed to examine the role of IL-35 in diabetic retinopathy(DR).MethodsPatients with diabetes mellitus were enrolled in this study and were divided into three groups: diabetes without retinopathy(DWR), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy(NPDR) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR).Patients with idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane(IMEM) were included as a control group. Serum samples were collected from all the subjects, while vitreous samples were only collected from PDR patients and IMEM patients. The level of IL-35 in the serum and vitreous were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), ARPE-19 cells were cultured and divided into 6 groups, low glucose, high glucose(with or without different concentrations of IL-35) or mannitol control for different length of time(6h, 12 h, and 24h). The mRNA expression of IL-35 and its receptor,IL-6, MCP-1, and VEGF were detected by RT-PCR cell, the viability of ARPE-19 cells were assayed by CCK8,and the IL-6, MCP-1 and VEGF expression of ARPE-19 was determined by ELISA.ResultsThe serum levels of IL-35 were significantly decreased in PDR patients while compared with controls. The vitreous levels of IL-35 were significantly decreased in PDR patients. No stastistical difference concerning the serum IL-35 levels between NPDR patients, DWR and controls. The mRNA expression of the subunits of both IL-35 and its’ receptor were decreased in the ARPE-19 cells under high glucose condition. IL-35 administration can effectively alleviate the inhibition of high glucose in the cell viability of ARPE-19 cells in vitro, and significantly down-regulate the increasing expression of IL-6,MCP-1 and VEGF in ARPE-19 cells under high glucose condition.ConclusionsThe anti-inflammatory effects of IL-35 may be associated with the pathgenesis of PDR.