Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2026; 17(3): 115433
Published online Mar 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i3.115433
Published online Mar 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i3.115433
PRDX2 silencing alleviates reactive hyperplasia of Müller glial cells in diabetic retinopathy by inhibiting the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway
Xiao-Lan Du, Shuai Ouyang, Yu-Song Wang, Yi-Shuang Mao, Bei-Cheng Ren, Wei-Hong Yu, Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
Xiao-Lan Du, Shuai Ouyang, Yu-Song Wang, Yi-Shuang Mao, Bei-Cheng Ren, Wei-Hong Yu, Key Laboratory of Ocular Fundus Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China
Xiao-Lan Du, Shuai Ouyang, Yu-Song Wang, Yi-Shuang Mao, Bei-Cheng Ren, Wei-Hong Yu, Key Laboratory of Fundus Diseases Intelligent Diagnosis & Drug/Device Development and Translation, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
Co-first authors: Xiao-Lan Du and Shuai Ouyang.
Author contributions: Du XL and Ouyang S contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Yu WH and Du XL conceptualized and designed the study; Yu WH and Wang YS performed supervision and project administration; Du XL, Ouyang S, Wang YS, Mao YS, and Ren BC collected the data, performed statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; Du XL and Ouyang S revised the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Approval No. JS-3253).
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
Data sharing statement: Upon reasonable request, the datasets generated and analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding or first author.
Corresponding author: Wei-Hong Yu, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Shuaifuyuan Wangfujing, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China. yuweihongpumch@163.com
Received: October 22, 2025
Revised: December 26, 2025
Accepted: January 22, 2026
Published online: March 15, 2026
Processing time: 142 Days and 3.7 Hours
Revised: December 26, 2025
Accepted: January 22, 2026
Published online: March 15, 2026
Processing time: 142 Days and 3.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study identifies PRDX2 as a potential biomarker and mechanistic contributor in diabetic retinopathy (DR). PRDX2 was upregulated in both patient plasma and ocular tissues, with plasma levels showing a positive correlation with disease severity and serving as a significant predictor of proliferative DR. In vitro, PRDX2 silencing mitigated high-glucose-induced reactive hyperplasia in rat Müller cells. This effect was mediated by upregulation of RhoGDI1 and suppression of the downstream RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway. Targeting the PRDX2-RhoGDI1-RhoA axis may offer a novel therapeutic approach for alleviating neuroglial dysfunction in DR pathogenesis.