title: Increased pregnancy-associated plasma protein A in retinal vein occlusion.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) levels in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and to investigate its possible role as a predictive biomarker.
  
  
  
  The study included 26 patients with RVO and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects as controls. PAPP-A levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The PAPP-A levels in patients with RVO were compared with those in the control group using the Mann-Whitney U test.
  
  
  
  The mean serum PAPP-A levels were 1.27 ± 0.46 mIU/L (mean ± standard deviation) in the RVO group and 1.14 ± 0.11 mIU/L in the control group. There was a significant difference in PAPP-A levels between RVO patients and healthy subjects (p = 0.03). Moreover, in ROC analysis comparing the RVO patients and controls, a cutoff value of 1.126 (AUC: 0.669), specificity of 63.3% and sensitivity of 76.9% were calculated for the RVO patients (p = 0.03).
  
  
  
  Our data seems to support the roles of both thrombosis and atherosclerosis in the development of RVO. It is possible that PAPP-A may be involved in the pathogenesis of venous thrombosis in the retina.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Beyoglu Eye Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. dr.tolgayilmaz@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gunay
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ocal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozveren
mesh_terms: D001798:Blood Proteins; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A / Q000032:analysis*; D012170:Retinal Vein Occlusion / Q000097:blood*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A; C579283:PAPPA protein, human