Abstract
Dry eye disease (DED) can be extremely distressing and is common in type 2 diabetes (T2D). To investigate potential biomarkers of DED in T2D, panels of proteins in tears, alongside clinical signs and symptoms of DED, were assessed. Patients were classified into four groups: T2D + DED (n = 47), T2D-only (n = 41), DED-only (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 17). All patients underwent the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and Dry Eye-Related Quality of Life (DEQS) questionnaires, tear evaporation rate (TER), fluorescein tear break-up time (fTBUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) and Schirmer 1 test assessments. Six metabolic proteins and 14 inflammatory cytokines were analyzed with multiplex bead analysis. Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 concentrations in tears were significantly higher in the T2D + DED group, and these biomarkers were positively correlated with CFS. In addition, tear IL-6 was negatively correlated with fTBUT in the T2D + DED group. Clinical signs of DED in the T2D + DED group were similar to the DED-only group. The T2D + DED group had more patients with moderate and severe DED (versus the DED-only group), suggesting a different pathogenesis for DED in T2D versus DED-only. Therefore, IL-6 and IL-8 could potentially be diagnostic biomarkers of DED in T2D.