AIM:To analyze the expression and significance of miR-132 in the plasma of patients with diabetic retinopathy.

METHODS: From July 2015 to October 2015, a total of 55 patients with diabetes who were treated in our hospital were divided into 5 groups according to diabetic retinopathy clinical staging international standard, including 13 cases of no obvious retinopathy as group A, 10 cases of mild NPDR as group B, 11 cases of moderate NPDR as group C, 12 cases of severe NPDR as group D and 9 cases of PDR as group E, at the same time, the other 12 healthy people were enrolled as control group F. Real-time quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR)technique was used to detect the relative expression of miR-132 in the plasma of 55 patients with different stages of diabetic retinopathy and the expression difference between different groups were compared.

RESULTS: Compared with the healthy control group, the expression of miR-132 in the plasma was decreased in other groups(P<0.05)except in the background of diabetic retinopathy, however, there was no significant difference between the NPDR groups and the PDR groups.

CONCLUSION: The expression of miR-132 in the plasma of patients with DR was slightly lower in the non-proliferative and proliferative stage than in healthy subjects and background diabetic retinopathy. Furthermore, miR-132 may be a new biomarker for DR.