Predictive values of serum CEA, NSE, CA199, CA153 and CA125 in type 2 diabetic retinopathy

Objective To investigate the predictive values of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron specific enolase (NSE), carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199), carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153) and carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) in patients with type 2 diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods A total of 306 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who were admitted in Xuzhou First People's Hospital from January 2019 to December 2019 were enrolled. They were divided into two groups: a diabetic retinopathy (DR) group (n=134) and a non-DR (NDR) group (n=172). Both groups were compared for the levels of serum tumor markers, and disease duration, age, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycated hemoglobin Alc (HbAlc), C peptides, urine microalbumin/serum creatinine (ALB/Scr), triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC). Spearman analysis was employed to analyze the correlation between serum tumor markers and clinical characteristics. The logistic multiple regression was implemented to analyze the risk factors of DR. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed. Results Patients in the DR group showed remarkable increases in age, disease duration, CEA, NSE, CA199, CA153, CA125, ALB/SCr, Cystatin C (Cys-C), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and HbA1c, and decreases in C peptides and glomerular filtration rate (GFR), compared with the NDR group (P<0.05). For DR patients, CEA and CA199 were positively correlated with HbA1c, NSE was positively correlated with TC and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and CA125 was positively correlated with ALB/SCr and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P<0.05). The levels of CEA, NSE, CA199, CA153, and CA125 were significantly different in DR patients with different duration of disease (>10 year, 1—10 years, and <1 year) (P<0.05), as well as in DR patients at different ages (>60 year, 40—60 years, and <40 year) (P<0.05).The duration of disease, ALB/SCr, NSE, CA199 and CA125 were the risk factors for DR (P<0.05, OR>1). The AUC of CEA, NSE, CA199, CA153 and CA125 in DR patients were 0.669, 0.798, 0.674, 0.687 and 0.669, respectively (P<0.05). The AUC of NSE was higher than other, with a cutoff value of 11.745, a sensitivity of 82.8% and a specificity of 67.4%. Conclusions Serum NSE, CA199 and CA125 are the risk factors of DR. CEA, NSE, CA199, CA153 and CA125 have certain diagnostic value for DR, especially NSE with an optimal value.