Marfan Syndrome and Early-Onset Diabetic Retinopathy: A Case Report

Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by the proliferation of fibrovascular tissue extending from the retina into the vi-treous cavity. mfs is an autosomal do-minant disorder of the elastic tissue. al-though mfs clearly manifests with multiple ocular problems, there is no reported association between mfs and diabetic retinopathy. reported here is the case of 32-year-old male with marfan syndrome (mfs) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (dm) presented with an accelerated onset of diabetic retinopathy. our patient developed diabetic retinopathy only 4 years following the diagnosis of type 2 dm, de-spite excellent glucose control. we suggest that there may be a pathophysiological link between mfs and diabetes involving extracellular matrix components that accelerates and/or augments the retinopathic processes in mfs patients. specifical-ly, we postulate that increased levels of matrix metalloproteinases (mmp) and transforming growth factor beta (tgf-β) in diabetic retinas fa-cilitate the proteolysis of an already weakened ocular connective tissue in mfs, ultimately lead-ing to early development of ophthalmologic ma-nifestations such as diabetic retinopathy.