Response to the Letter of Dr. Mehmet Agilli et al.: Elevated Plasma Pentraxin3 Levels and Its Association with Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration

First of all, we thank Agilli et al.1 for your interest in our research.2 My answers to your questions are as follows:

My colleagues and I agree that several diseases could affect pentraxin3 (PTX3) level. Thus, we excluded patients diagnosed with hyperlipidemina, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease in our study. Also, patients taking medication for hyperlipidemia, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARB), or an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor for hypertension were excluded.

But we did not directly indicate such as rheumatologic disease, pneumonia asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, vasculitis, or ulcerative colitis. However, after reviewing all participants' medical records and consultations with participants, some of the patients with inflammation or autoimmune disease were excluded from this study, which is stated in the Methods section of our paper. With respect to the influence of medication on the participants, we did not take into consideration the specific medication status you mentioned, such as omega-3 fatty acid and vitamins A, D, and E. However, since these supplements are widely available, we have not predicted that the patient group took higher doses of these medicines than the control group, even if they did take the supplements.

Currently, we are carrying out studies wherein variations in PTX3 concentration in blood depending on some types of disease are measured. We also reported the relation between PTX3 and development and progression of diabetic retinopathy in another paper.3 Our additional work on finding an influence of antioxidant agents on PTX3 level is in progress and we hope to release results of our current research soon in this journal.