ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurological Biomarkers
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Ischemic Retinopathies: Unraveling Molecular Mechanisms and Innovative Therapeutic AvenuesView all 6 articles
Association Between Elevated Circulating GDF-15 and Risk in Acute Retinal Artery Occlusion
Provisionally accepted
Xuan Xiao1*
Fangyuan Zhu1
Hang Liu2
Ruobing Shi1
Kaichao Xia1
Yuedan Wang1Liang Hu2
Ting Chen3
Ying Li3Anhuai Yang1*- 1Department of Ophthalmology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
- 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Translational Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
- 3Wuhan University Renmin Hospital, Wuhan, China
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Purpose We aimed to investigate the association between circulating growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) levels and retinal artery occlusion (RAO), and to assess the diagnostic performance of GDF15 for discriminating RAO patients from controls. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, we quantified serum GDF15 levels via ELISA. After performing propensity score matching with age and sex adjustment, we completed univariate and multivariate analyses to describe RAO risk factors. Subsequently, multivariable logistic regression combined with restricted cubic spline analysis was used to assess significance of GDF15 in RAO risk evaluation. Results The results of this study showed that GDF15 was significantly increased in serum (median: 587.89 pg/mL vs. 331.54 pg/mL, P < 0.001) and aqueous humor (median: 442.8 pg/mL vs. 81.21 pg/mL, P < 0.01) of patients. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified triglyceride (TG), glucose (Glu) and GDF15 as independent risk factors for RAO. Multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that TG and Glu were positively correlated with GDF15 levels, whereas eGFR and TYG were inversely correlated. The multi-parameter combination (GDF15, TYG index, Glu, TG, Neu) demonstrated superior diagnostic performance for RAO (AUC = 0.92) compared with individual biomarkers, each of which showed moderate discriminative ability. Conclusions Our findings indicate elevated GDF15 levels are significantly associated with the incidence of RAO. GDF15 exhibited acceptable diagnostic accuracy as a single marker, and the combination of GDF15 to a multi-parameter diagnostic model significantly improved discrimination, highlighting its potential as a biomarker for RAO.
Keywords: Cross-sectional study, Growth Differentiation Factor 15, Retinal Artery Occlusion, risk factor, Serum biomarkers
Received: 20 Oct 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Xiao, Zhu, Liu, Shi, Xia, Wang, Hu, Chen, Li and Yang. 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:
Xuan Xiao
Anhuai Yang
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