Comparison of serum mannose-binding lectin (MBL) levels of patients with diabetic retinopathy with the control group

Aim: Comparison of serum MBL levels of patients with diabetic retinopathy and control group without diabetes Materials-Methods: Our study was carried out in Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology. 240 patients with diabetic retinopathy and 240 healthy individuals who were similar in terms of age and gender were included in our study. Patients with diabetic retinopathy included in study were divided into 2 subgroups as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDRP) group and nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDRP) group. Serum MBL levels of patient and control groups were measured with ELISA method in Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biology and Genetics Laboratories. Results: The mean serum MBL levels of control group were 256.776 ± 126.979 pg/ml. A statistically significant result was found when compared with PDRP group and NPDRP group (p=0.000 and p=0.005, respectively). A statistically significant result was also found between PDRP group and NPDRP group (p=0.000). Conclusions: Serum MBL levels of patients with diabetic retinopathy were found to be significantly higher when compared to control group. In addition, patients with proliferative retinopathy had significantly higher serum MBL levels than patients with nonproliferative retinopathy. We think that this increase may be related to severity of retinopathy and may be a factor in etiopathogenesis of retinopathy.