Metabolomics analysis uncovers metabolic changes and remodeling of anti-VEGF therapy on macular edema

作者：Congcong Yan, Quanyong Yi, Lina Ge, Ying Huang, Chun Yang, Bing Lin, Dan Jiang, Meng Zhou · 发表于：Eye and Vision · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s40662-025-00444-2 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Retinal Diseases and Treatments、Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies、Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism

BACKGROUND: Anti-angiogenic therapy with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) is currently the first-line treatment for macular edema (ME), but the specific metabolic changes in the aqueous humor (AH) after intravitreal anti-VEGF injections remain poorly understood. METHODS: A total of 120 AH samples from 60 ME patients before and after anti-VEGF treatment were collected from the ophthalmology clinic and ward of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Non-targeted metabolomics analysis of the AH samples was performed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was used to identify metabolite differences before and after anti-VEGF treatment in patients with different ME etiologies. RESULTS: Distinct metabolomic profiles were observed between pre- and post-treatment samples. A total of 145 significantly altered metabolites were identified after anti-VEGF treatment, with 84 upregulated metabolites related to carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and 61 downregulated metabolites involved in amino acid metabolism. Both common and etiology-specific metabolic alterations were observed. In age-related macular degeneration (AMD)-ME, treatment-induced metabolic changes mainly involved amino acid metabolism, whereas in branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO)-ME, lipid metabolism was primarily affected. Diabetic macular edema (DME) patients showed more complex metabolic alterations...