Abstract
Purpose :
The Wnt pathway plays a pathogenic role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the alteration of plasma Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1, a specific inhibitor of Wnt pathway) in AMD.
Methods :
One hundred-twenty-eight patients with exudative AMD including 47 classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and 81 occult CNV, 46 patients with atrophic AMD and 111 healthy controls were recruited. Plasma DKK-1 levels were measured using ELISA. Data was analyzed by Independent-samples t-test, logistic regression analysis, and receiver-operating characteristic analysis (ROC).
Results :
DKK-1 levels were decreased in patients with exudative AMD, compared with healthy controls (p<0.01) and patients with atrophy AMD (p<0.01). The decrease of DKK-1 levels was more obvious in patients with classic CNV than those with occult CNV (p<0.001).There was a trend for an increase in risk of exudative AMD with decrease of DKK-1 levels (χ2=39.769，P=0.000). In the ROC curve, at a specificity of 63.1%, the cut-off value of DKK-1 was 655.2 pg/mL with the sensitivity of 78.1%. The discriminatory capacity of the test (area under the ROC curve, AUC) was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.70-0.82; p<0.001).
Conclusions :
Decreased level of plasma DKK-1 was associated with higher likelihood of exudative AMD. Our results indicate plasma DKK-1 could be a biomarker for detection of exudative AMD.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.