Of interest for this review, in two different models of DR, the STZ rat model mimicking type 1 diabetes (Navaratna et al., 2008; Cammalleri et al., 2017b) and the Torii rat model mimicking type 2 diabetes (Cammalleri et al., 2017a), inhibiting the uPAR system not only ameliorated diabetes-induced ERG dysfunction and reduced inflammation and apoptosis but also resulted in inhibition of VEGF upregulation and BRB breakdown. This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and diabetes mellitus.