Systematic review of ocular and circulatory cytokines linking diabetic retinopathy to kidney disease

This systematic review supports the hypothesis that DR and DKD share overlapping inflammatory and angiogenic pathways, reflected by synchronized changes in vitreous and systemic cytokine levels. These findings highlight the potential of retinal-derived biomarkers for non-invasive risk stratification of DKD, and suggest therapeutic value in combined anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic strategies to protect eye-kidney microvascular integrity. High-quality longitudinal and mechanistic studies are warranted to further establish causality within the eye-kidney axis and translate biomarker-based surveillance into clinical practice.