Aqueous Level of ANGPTL4 Correlates with the OCTA Metrics of Diabetic Macular Edema in NPDR

Table 2

Comparison of the cytokine levels in the aqueous humor among the 3 groups [M(Q1,Q3)].

Aqueous cytokines	DWR (pg/ml) ()	NPDR/DME- (pg/ml) ()	NPDR/DME+ (pg/ml) ()	value	value
HGF	445.64 (286.17, 583.95)	400.13 (353.31, 688.43)	626.10 (528.81, 805.84)^ab	9.596	0.008
HB-EGF	1.18 (1.02, 1.62)	1.21 (0.87, 1.48)	1.06 (0.92, 1.27)	1.586	0.453
FGF-2	13.19 (11.17, 18.16)	15.75 (11.66, 19.81)	13.19 (9.33, 15.75)	1.803	0.406
FGF-19	50.29 (33.56, 66.44)	39.42 (32.11, 53.29)	234.78 (35.51, 335.39)^b	8.362	0.015
Endothelin-1	8.15 (6.24, 13.59)	8.83 (5.97, 10.64)	8.22 (5.78, 10.23)	0.763	0.683
Leptin	68.33 (61.73, 80.97)	64.84 (57.66, 79.31)	88.26 (68.33, 135.53)	5.895	0.052
IL-8	4.64 (3.32, 7.42)	7.16 (3.67, 8.14)	9.97 (6.95, 17.18)^ab	12.276	0.002
ANG-2	32.28 (26.52, 44.62)	36.52 (25.42, 44.92)	34.58 (25.13, 44.17)	0.014	0.993
ANGPTL4	1529.50 (1078.50, 4347.25)	2726.00 (2025.00, 12519.50)^a	23778.00 (14490.00, 26311.50)^ab	31.902	<0.001
PLGF	1.25 (1.02, 1.79)	1.23 (1.07, 3.54)	3.75 (2.74, 6.56)^ab	20.631	<0.001
VEGF-A	179.14 (132.90, 220.41)	276.25 (159.75, 345.77)	363.93 (242.95, 564.12)^ab	20.004	<0.001
VEGF-C	38.52 (29.76, 77.98)	45.36 (33.79, 65.16)	47.24 (34.26, 56.01)	0.076	0.963

HGF: hepatocyte growth factor; HB-EGF: heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor; FGF-2: fibroblast growth factor 2; FGF-19: fibroblast growth factor 19; IL-8: interleukin 8; ANG-2: angiopoietin-2; ANGPTL4: angiopoietin-like 4; PLGF: placental growth factor; VEGF-A: vascular endothelial growth factor-A; VEGF-C: vascular endothelial growth factor-C. Cytokine levels (pg/mL) are presented as median with interquartile range. The levels of cytokines in the aqueous humor of the 3 groups were compared by Kruskal-Wallis test; one-to-one multiple comparisons were performed by Mann–Whitney test, a: compared with control, ^a, b: compared with NPDR/ME- group, ^b.