Is Inflammation a Common Retinal-Renal-Nerve Pathogenic Link in Diabetes?

The global diabetes burden is predicted to rise to 380 million by 2025 and would present itself as a major health challenge. However, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes increase the risk of developing micro-vascular complications and macro-vascular complications which in turn will have a devastating impact on quality of life of the patients and challenge health services Worldwide. The micro-vascular complications that affect small blood vessels are the leading cause of blindness (diabetic retinopathy) in the people of the working-age, end-stage renal disease (diabetic nephropathy) the most common cause of kidney failure today, and foot amputation (diabetic neuropathy) in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. It is accepted that hyperglycemia is a major causative factor for the development of these complications, there is also growing evidence for the role of inflammation. Here we discuss low-grade inflammation as a common retinal-renal-nerve pathogenic link in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. This review summarizes evidence showing a link between circulating and locally produced inflammatory biomarkers, such as cell adhesion molecules (vascular adhesion cell molecule-1, VCAM-1; intracellular adhesion molecule-1, ICAM-1), pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6, IL-6; tumour necrosis factor-alpha, TNF-α; C-reactive protein, CRP) with the development and progression of diabetic micro-vascular complications.