Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major microvascular complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Myelomonocytic proangiogenic cells (PAC) have been implicated in DR pathogenesis, but their functional and developmental abnormalities are unclear. In this study we assessed PAC characteristics from healthy controls, T2DM patients with DR (DR) and without (NoDR) in order to determine the consequence of the diabetic condition on PAC phenotype and function, and whether these differ between DR and NoDR patients.
PAC were generated by culturing PBMC on fibronectin coating and then immunophenotyped using flow cytometry. Furthermore, cells were sorted based on CD14, CD105, and CD133 expression and added to an
The expression of CD16, CD105 and CD31, but not CD133, was lower in PAC from T2DM patients with or without DR. Myeloid and non-myeloid T2DM-derived sorted populations increased REC angiogenesis
T2DM PAC are phenotypically and functionally altered compared to PAC from HC. Differences between DR and NoDR PAC are limited. We propose that impaired T2DM PAC provide inadequate vascular support and promote compensatory, albeit pathological, retinal neovascularization.