{
  "abstract": "Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common microvascular complication of diabetes that has the potential to progress to vision-threatening DR (VTDR) even in the absence of symptoms. Plasma proteins in response to physiological and pathological conditions in the body may be intricately connected to the initiation of VTDR.Objective To determine the causality between 4489 plasma proteins and the risk of VTDR to explore potential therapeutic targets for VTDR.Design A Mendelian randomisation (MR) study.Setting A two-sample MR study was performed to investigate the causality between plasma proteins and VTDR.Participants Genetic information on plasma proteins and VTDR in European populations from IEU OpenGWAS.Primary and secondary outcome measures Mediation analysis was performed to evaluate the indirect impacts of plasma proteins on VTDR via related risk variables. Furthermore, the druggability and potential role of the target proteins in VTDR were explored.Results According to the MR study, 92 proteins out of 4489 plasma proteins had causal relationships with VTDR. Five potential proteins (MMP8, BST1, ARL1, MRPL33 and SDF2L1) were causally related to both VTDR and risk factors. Mediation analysis revealed that the protein-mediating effects on VTDR outcomes were achieved through risk factors (body mass index; glycated haemoglobin). Seven drugs that interacted with MMP8 were potential target drugs for VTDR.Conclusions Our investigation elucidated the causal connections between plasma proteins, risk factors and VTDR, identified MMP8 protein as a potential drug target and highlighted seven candidate drugs. These results provide a translational framework for developing novel therapies for VTDR.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Department of Ophthalmology, The People’s Hospital of JiangMen (Jiangmen Hospital, Southern Medical University), Jiangmen, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yanhua Liang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yu Huang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Xiayin Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Zijing Du"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yaxin Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China",
        "Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Image Analysis and Application, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China"
      ],
      "name": "Honghua Yu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Guangdong Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yijun Hu"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Exploring potential target drugs for vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy using the human plasma proteome: a Mendelian randomisation study",
  "uid": "6e03ce07-8b93-5374-9b67-039a7cec6f3e"
}