Fat Mass and Obesity Gene was Potentially Related with Diabetic Retinopathy Through Immune Mechanism

The role of inflammation in the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been studied for a long time, but in the last 10 years there has been enormous interest in the molecular mechanisms to develop novel therapeutic approaches. Of this study, there were none of significantly differences of Age, Sex, Body mass index, TC, TG and CRP in different groups. However, FPG values and HbA1c values in patients with/without DR were significantly higher than that in healthy group. Meanwhile, TNF-alpha contents in patients with DR were also significantly higher than that in patients without DR group. Over-expressed FTO gene in HepG cell resulted in a significant increase in mRNA and protein expression of TNF-alpha compared with that in wild group. Knockdown FTO gene in HepG cell had significantly reduce TNF-alpha expression compared with Control group, which indicated that knock-down FTO gene in HepG cell had significantly effects on TNF-alpha expression. Of the RNA dot-blot analysis, over-expressed FTO gene in HepG cell significantly promoted m(6)A expression. Meanwhile, knockdown FTO gene in HepG cell had significantly reduce m(6)A expression compared with Control group. The results revealed that knockdown and over-expressed FTO gene in HepG cell could effectively affect the m(6)A expression, which indicated the positive relationships between FTO gene and m(6)A in vitro. In addition, Retinal vessel in STZ-induced mice resulted in a significantly increase in mRNA and protein expression of TNF-alpha compared with that in wild group, which indicated that STZ-treated mice significantly promoted TNF-alpha expression. The results mentioned above revealed that STZ-induced treatment could effectively affect the m(6)A and TNF-alpha expression, which indicated the positive relationships between FTO gene and m(6)A in vivo. Characterization of the role of FTO gene in the development of DR should lead to a better understanding.