Elevated Plasma Pentraxin3 Levels and Its Association with Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate pentraxin3 (PTX3) levels in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (N-ARMD) and to investigate its role as a predictive biomarker. Methods: Thirty individuals with N-ARMD and 30 controls without N-ARMD were studied. Plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and PTX3 were measured in frozen samples using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: PTX3 concentration was 1341 +/- 625 pg/mL (mean +/- standard deviation) in N-ARMD patients, which was significantly higher than in control subjects (887 +/- 478, p = 0.003). The mean CRP level was also significantly higher in N-ARMD (2121 +/- 2300) than in control (748 +/- 618, p = 0.004). Pearson's correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between PTX3 and CRP (r = 0.407, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Our data support the role of chronic inflammation in the development of ARMD. They also show PTX3 may contribute to efforts to understand pathogenesis of N-ARMD.