American Diabetes Association
Browse

Tribbles Homolog 3 Mediates the Development and Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy

Download (3.13 MB)
figure
posted on 2021-05-11, 19:27 authored by Priyamvada M. Pitale, Irina V. Saltykova, Yvonne Adu-Agyeiwaah, Sergio Li Calzi, Takashi Satoh, Shizuo Akira, Oleg Gorbatyuk, Michael E. Boulton, Machelle T. Pardue, W. Timothy Garvey, Mohammad Athar, Maria B. Grant, Marina S. Gorbatyuk
The current understanding of molecular pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy does not provide a mechanistic link between early molecular changes and the subsequent progression of the disease. In this study, we found that human diabetic retinas overexpressed TRIB3 and investigated the role of TRIB3 in diabetic retinal pathobiology in mice. We discovered that TRIB3 controlled major molecular events in early diabetic retinas via HIF1α-mediated regulation of retinal glucose flux, reprograming cellular metabolism, and governing inflammatory gene expression. These early molecular events further defined the development of neurovascular deficit observed in mice with diabetic retinopathy. TRIB3 ablation in STZ-induced mouse model led to significant RGC survival and functional restoration accompanied by a dramatic reduction in pericyte loss and acellular capillary formation. Under hypoxic conditions, TRIB3 contributed to advanced proliferative stages by significant upregulation of GFAP and VEGF expression, thus controlling gliosis and aberrant vascularization in OIR mouse retinas. Overall, our data reveal that TRIB3 is a master regulator of diabetic retinal pathophysiology that may accelerate the onset and progression of diabetic retinopathy to proliferative stages in humans and present TRIB3 as a potentially novel therapeutic target for diabetic retinopathy.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Eye Institute, grants RO1 EY027763, R21YE031103.

History

Usage metrics

    Diabetes

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC