Clinical correlation research of serum retinol binding protein 4 and type 2 diabetic retinopathy

Objective To explore the relationship of serum retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) with type 2 diabetic retinopathy. Methods Clinical case control study. The 83 cases of hospitalized pa-tients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were divided into three groups: PDR group (n =32 fun-dus examination showed proliferative diabetic retinopathy), NPDR group (n =20 fundus examination showed non proliferative diabetic retinopathy), NDR group (n =31 fundus examination showed nor-mal). Their serum RBP4 levels were measured. At the same time, factors that may be closely relat-ed to the occurrence and development of DR were detected. And we also measured the amplitude of B wave in full field electroretinogram (F-ERG). Results Serum RBP4 differences among three groups had statistical significance, P <0.05; There was significant difference in B wave amplitude among the three groups, P <0.05. Simple correlation analysis showed that the serum RBP4 level was negatively correlated with the b wave amplitude of ERG (r =-0.458, P =0.0001). Binary Logistic regres-sion analysis showed that RBP4 was significantly correlated with DR (B =0.105, P =0.019). Conclusions The increase of serum RBP4 level is consistent with the progress of DR. There is a close rela-tionship between serum RBP4 and the damage of retinal bipolar cells. Key words: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Diabetic retinopathy; Retinol binding protein 4; Full-Field Electroretinograms