A single cell atlas of circulating immune cells involved in diabetic retinopathy

Circulating immune cells play a role in the pathophysiology of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Our study focused on examining the exact role of circulating immune cells in the development of DR. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) techniques revealed unique differentially-expressed genes and pathways in circulating immune cells among non-diabetic retinopathy (NDR) patients and DR patients. These findings highlight the notable alterations in the immunophenotypes of circulating immune cells in patients with type 1 DR. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from six Type 1 diabetes patients. Three of them are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and the other three with non-diabetic retinopathy (NDR) . Then single-cell RNA-sequencing using 10X Genomics was conducted to examine the transcriptomic profiles of each cell subpopulation in these PBMCs.