Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications, non-coding RNA are reversible, heritable alterations which are induced by environmental stimuli. Major risk factors of diabetes and diabetic complications including hyperglycemia, oxidative stress and advanced glycation end products, can lead to abnormal epigenetic modifications in retinal vascular endothelial cells and retinal pigment epithelium cells. Epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of macular edema and neovascularization of diabetic retinopathy (DR), as well as diabetic metabolic memory. The heritable nature of epigenetic marks also playsakey role in familial diabetes mellitus. Further elucidation of epigenetic mechanisms in DR can open the way for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets to prevent DR progression.
Epigenetic mechanisms influence gene expression and function without modification of the base sequence of DNA and may generateagenetic phenotype. Epigenetic modifications include DNA methylation, histone modifications, and deployment of noncoding RNA. There is growing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms could playacrucial role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Molecular biological methods which could maintain mitochondrial homeostasis through the regulation of epigenetic mechanisms may prevent the development of DR. Epigenetic-related treatment modalities will become the new direction of targeted therapy for DR.
Epigenetics refers to the changes in gene expression level and function caused by non-genetic sequence changes. It can provide the time, location and mode of the genetic information for the execution of DNA sequences, including DNA methylation, histone modification, non-coding RNA and chromatin remodeling. Studies had shown that epigenetics plays an important role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR), and it had been found that epigenetic-related treatment regimens had a certain effect on the treatment of DR through animal experiments and in vitro experiments. It was benefit to regulate the development of diabetes and its complications by depth study of DNA methylation, histone modification, miRNA and metabolic memory. An understanding of changes in gene transcriptional mechanisms at the epigenetic level could help us to further study the prevention and control of diabetes and its complications, and to provide new ideas for treatment.
Epigenetics has been very hot in the research of biomedicine. In addition to genetic factors, the occurrence of a disease is also influenced by environmental factors. Retinal vascular diseases are a type of irreversible blind eye disease, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The retinal vessel changes are the major features of retinal vascular diseases, which are the result of interaction of multiple environmental factors and genes. Epigenetic modification mainly includes DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA regulation. Epigenetic mechanisms mediate the effects of environmental factors on genes related to retinal vascular diseases, and affect the eventual development of the diseases. Therefore, ophthalmologists should keep eyes close on the role of epigenetics in retinal vascular diseases, track the progress of epigenetic methods in the treatment of retinal vascular diseases, and pay attention to the application prospects of epigenetics. Finding the epigenetic regulators of these diseases can not only deepen the understanding of the pathological mechanism of these diseases, but also provide new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.
Epigenetics has become one of the major research directions of human genome after genome sequencing, and plays an important role in many complex pathophysiological processes such as tumor, biological development, aging and neuropathy. The metabolic memory phenomenon in diabetic retinopathy (DR) suggests that the pathogenesis of DR has a complicated relationship with epigenetic factors. Many studies show the changes and roles of histone modification, DNA methylation and non-coding RNA in the development of DR. However, the current understanding of how epigenetic modifications affect diseases is limited, and most studies on histone modifications have not been carried out in DR. There is still a lot of room for development in epigenetic research on DR. At the same time, epigenetic modification is very complicated, and how to integrate the interaction of different modifications in the development stage of DR is the focus of future research work.