Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42599028›Full record

ArticleInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science2026

Aqueous Humor Proteomics Reveals the Molecular Basis for Differential Treatment Responses in nAMD and pmCNV.

Hanqing Zhao, Benbo Gao, Ning Ding, Ruiheng Zhang, Wenda Zhou, Guojiao Song, Heyan Li, Haotian Wu, Yuhang Yang, Lei Shao and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Hanqing ZhaoBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Benbo GaoBiomedical Research Center of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Ning DingBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Ruiheng ZhangBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Wenda ZhouBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Guojiao SongBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Heyan LiBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Haotian WuBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Yuhang YangBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Lei ShaoBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Li DongBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Wenbin WeiBeijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Purpose: Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) causes vision loss in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and pathologic myopia-related CNV (pmCNV). Despite shared clinical features, they respond differently to treatment. This study compared aqueous humor (AH) proteomic profiles of nAMD and pmCNV to identify biomarkers and mechanisms of CNV formation. Methods: AH samples were collected from eyes with nAMD, pmCNV, age-related cataract controls, and pathologic myopia without CNV. Label-free data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry was used for proteomic profiling. Differentially expressed proteins were identified using limma models adjusted for age, sex, and axial length. Functional enrichment analyses used Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Reactome databases. Stability-based feature selection, LightGBM modeling, and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) prioritized discriminative proteins; selected findings were evaluated in an independent nAMD-control Olink cohort. Results: DIA proteomics identified 3986 proteins, of which 3667 passed quality filtering. nAMD and pmCNV showed weakly correlated proteomic alterations (r2 = 0.061), with 385 nAMD-specific, 398 pmCNV-specific, and 100 shared altered proteins. nAMD was characterized by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF/VEGF receptor [VEGFR]) pathway activation and reduced glucose-metabolism-related proteins, whereas pmCNV showed extracellular matrix remodeling, platelet/coagulation activation, and downregulation of Slit/Robo-related neurovascular guidance pathways. The stability-selected LightGBM model using 33 proteins achieved a macro-average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.92. SHAP analysis highlighted VEGFR2 (KDR) and VEGFA as major nAMD-associated drivers, and Olink validation showed concordant expression trends for six selected proteins. Conclusions: nAMD and pmCNV exhibit largely distinct AH proteomic signatures, supporting different molecular mechanisms of CNV formation and anti-VEGF responsiveness. AH proteomics may help prioritize subtype-specific candidate biomarkers, warranting further validation across independent cohorts.

Indexed as

Aqueous HumorChoroidal NeovascularizationEye ProteinsMyopiaProteomicsWet Macular DegenerationAgedAngiogenesis InhibitorsBiomarkersFemaleHumansMaleMass SpectrometryVascular Endothelial Growth Factor AAngiogenesis InhibitorsBiomarkersEye ProteinsVascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

Identifiers

PMID42599028
PMCPMC13489211

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.