Microvascular dysfunction is a key pathological mechanism of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In recent years, it has been found that the phenomenon of "metabolic memory" is prevalent in diabetic patients, and diabetic microangiopaplasia cannot be avoided even if patients’ blood glucose is well controlled. Therefore, it is necessary to explore DR from a genetic perspective. miR-126 is the unique microRNA specifically expressed in vascular endothelial cells, which is closely related to the formation of neovascularization and can affect the stability of DR microvessels as well as the germination and migration of endothelial cells, and its gene level is significantly negatively correlated with the expression of vascular endothelial cell growth factor. The potential value of intracellular and circulating miR-126 in the regulation of DR microvascular homeostasis, early diagnosis and treatment, and monitoring of disease course has attracted great attention. However, studies in this area are mostly hypothesis-driven and still have some limitations. It is believed that with the rapid development of genomics, the miRNA spectrum and its molecular mechanism in eye development and eye diseases will gradually become clear, which may lead to a breakthrough in the intervention of individual refractory retinal diseases and establish a new miRNA diagnosis and treatment method in the future.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the main cause of severe visual impairment in diabetic patients. Most of the existing treatments are aimed at patients with intermediate and advanced stages of vision impairment, and are invasive treatments with limited effects. Therefore, it is urgent for non-invasive new therapies and new targets to prevent the risk of DR or delay the progress of DR. Early optimization of metabolic therapies, which are strict control of blood glucose, blood pressure and blood lipid in the early stage of diabetes, may prevent or improve potential and reversible microangiopathy, however, there is still a lack of comprehensive and effective drug targeted therapy and unified clinical application standards. Therefore, this study summarizes the application of new hypoglycemic drugs and some antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs in the prevention and treatment of DR in recent years, in order to provide some reference for the clinical early prevention and treatment of this disease.