ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1632878
Aqueous‑Humor Biomarkers and Real‑World Efficacy of Conbercept for Diabetic Macular Edema: A Prospective Study in Elderly Patients
Provisionally accepted
- Luzhou Maternal and Child Health-Care Hospital, Luzhou, China
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Background: To evaluate real‑world efficacy of conbercept and the predictive value of aqueous‑humor biomarkers in elderly diabetic macular edema (DME).Methods: In this single‑arm, prospective study, 150 patients ≥ 65 years received three monthly conbercept injections followed by pro‑re‑nata dosing over 6 months. Baseline vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin‑6 (IL‑6) levels were quantified from aqueous humor; best‑corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness (CST) were monitored. Mixed‑effects modelling and receiver‑operating‑characteristic (ROC) analysis explored associations between biomarkers and outcomes.Results: Mean BCVA improved by approximately nine ETDRS letters, and CST declined by about 85 µm at Month 6. Higher baseline VEGF and IL‑6 were associated with greater CST reduction and moderately increased odds of a ≥ 15‑letter gain; VEGF showed fair discriminative ability (AUC=0.74). Treatment was well‑tolerated, with no unexpected ocular or systemic adverse events.Conclusion: Conbercept produced meaningful anatomical and functional benefits in an elderly DME cohort. Baseline aqueous VEGF and IL‑6, while not definitive stand‑alone tests, may help identify eyes likely to achieve pronounced anatomical improvement and warrant further investigation as components of a multi‑marker predictive panel.
Keywords: diabetic macular edema, conbercept, Elderly, aqueous humor biomarkers, VEGF, IL-6
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Min Xie, Luzhou Maternal and Child Health-Care Hospital, Luzhou, China
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