%0 Journal Article %J FASEB J %D 2014 %T Molecular imaging reveals elevated VEGFR-2 expression in retinal capillaries in diabetes: a novel biomarker for early diagnosis %A Sun, Dawei %A Nakao, Shintaro %A Xie, Fang %A Zandi, Souska %A Bagheri, Abouzar %A Kanavi, Mozhgan Rezaei %A Samiei, Shahram %A Soheili, Zahra-Soheila %A Frimmel, Sonja %A Zhang, Zhongyu %A Ablonczy, Zsolt %A Ahmadieh, Hamid %A Hafezi-Moghadam, Ali %K Aged %K Animals %K Apoptosis %K Biomarkers %K Blotting, Western %K Capillaries %K Case-Control Studies %K Cell Proliferation %K Cells, Cultured %K Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental %K Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 %K Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 %K Diabetic Retinopathy %K Early Diagnosis %K Female %K Humans %K Immunoenzyme Techniques %K Male %K Molecular Imaging %K Rabbits %K Rats, Long-Evans %K Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction %K Retina %K Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction %K RNA, Messenger %K Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 %X Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes and a leading cause of vision loss. Biomarkers and methods for early diagnosis of DR are urgently needed. Using a new molecular imaging approach, we show up to 94% higher accumulation of custom designed imaging probes against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) in retinal and choroidal vessels of diabetic animals (P<0.01), compared to normal controls. More than 80% of the VEGFR-2 in the diabetic retina was in the capillaries, compared to 47% in normal controls (P<0.01). Angiography in rabbit retinas revealed microvascular capillaries to be the location for VEGF-A-induced leakage, as expressed by significantly higher rate of fluorophore spreading with VEGF-A injection when compared to vehicle control (26±2 vs. 3±1 μm/s, P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry showed VEGFR-2 expression in capillaries of diabetic animals but not in normal controls. Macular vessels from diabetic patients (n=7) showed significantly more VEGFR-2 compared to nondiabetic controls (n=5) or peripheral retinal regions of the same retinas (P<0.01 in both cases). Here we introduce a new approach for early diagnosis of DR and VEGFR-2 as a molecular marker. VEGFR-2 could become a key diagnostic target, one that might help to prevent retinal vascular leakage and proliferation in diabetic patients. %B FASEB J %V 28 %P 3942-51 %8 2014 Sep %G eng %N 9 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24903276?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1096/fj.14-251934