Nerve Growth Factor Promotes Retinal Neurovascular Unit Repair: A Review.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the imbalance of neurogenic factor (NGF) and its precursor (pro-NGF) mediates structural and functional impairment of retinal neurovascular unit (RNVU) that plays a role in retinal degenerative diseases.Methods: A literature search of electronic databases was performed.Results: The pro-apoptotic effect of pro-NGF and the pro-growth effect of NGF are essential for the pathological and physiological activities of RNVU. Studies show that NGF-based treatment of retinal degenerative diseases, including glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and diabetic retinopathy, has achieved remarkable efficacy.Conclusions: RNVU plays a complex and multifaceted role in retinal degenerative diseases. The exploration of the differential signaling expression of proNGF-NGF homeostasis under physiological and pathological conditions, and the corresponding pathological processes induced by its regulation, has prompted us to focus on earlier retinal neuroprotective therapeutic strategies to prevent retinal degenerative diseases.

Pancreatic safety of DPP-4 inhibitors in type 2 diabetes millitus: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Dipeptidyl-peptidase IV inhibitor (DPP-4i) is a common hypoglycemic medication in treating type 2 diabetes millitus. It has become widely utilized in clinical practice due to its ability to effectively manage blood glucose while posing a low risk of hypoglycemia and weight gain. However, there is no consensus on DPP-4i's pancreatic safety due to a paucity of clinical evidence. The safe event appears to be easily overlooked. This review aims to evaluate the pancreatic safety of DPP-4i in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using the standard pairwise and network meta-analysis methods. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials will be used to search for published literature on the pancreatic safety of DPP-4 inhibitors in type 2 diabetes millitus, and clinical trial registries will be used to look for unpublished trials. Two independent reviewers will screen literature for eligibility, extract available data, and assess the risk of bias. All divergences will be resolved after rechecking the source papers and further discussion among the reviewers with a complete consensus before inclusion. The risk of bias will be assessed by the Cochrane bias risk tool, and the quality of evidence will be interpreted by the GRADE Working Group approach. We will use STATA16.0 and WinBUGS1.4.3 for paired meta-analysis and Bayesian network meta-analysis. RESULTS: This study will evaluate the pancreatic safety of DPP-4 inhibitors in type 2 diabetes millitus. CONCLUSION: This systematic review and network meta-analysis will evaluate the pancreatic safety of DPP-4i in patients with type 2 diabetes millitus. The findings of this study may supplement the evidence-based information on DPP-4i, improve existing understanding of this issue, and assist patients and clinicians in making better treatment decisions by raising their awareness of the problem. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202230014.

Association of the Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 Polymorphism with the Risk of Diabetic Nephropathy: A Meta-Analysis.

Transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) polymorphism plays an essential role in the occurrence and development of patients living with diabetes, but the current conclusions are inconsistent on the relationship between TCF7L2 polymorphism and the risk of diabetic nephropathy. This meta-analysis aims to explore the exact association between TCF7L2 rs7903146 locus polymorphism and susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Wanfang databases were searched for studies on the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphism at TCF7L2 rs7903146 locus and susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy until January 10, 2022. The data were analyzed by Stata 15.0 software. A total of 7 articles were included, covering 1443 patients with diabetic nephropathy and 2129 diabetic non-nephropathy patients. The results showed that allele C at TCF7L2 rs7903146 locus, compared to allele T, the pooled odds ratio (OR)=0.69 (95% CI: 0.56-0.85, p≤0.05). In the dominant gene inheritance model, recessive gene inheritance model, homozygous genetic model, and heterozygous genetic model, the pooled OR was 0.47 (95% CI: 0.36-0.61), 0.63 (95% CI: 0.54-0.73), 0.39 (95% CI: 0.29-0.51), and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.45-0.78), respectively, and the differences were statistically significant. In conclusion, TCF7L2 rs7903146 polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy. Allele T and genotype TT can increase the risk of diabetic nephropathy.