GAS5 and diabetes mellitus: In the current study, we explored the potential role of H19 and GAS5 lncRNAs in T2DM and DR considering the following: 1) their implication in DM- and DR-related cellular pathways; 2) to the best of our knowledge, the circulating levels of H19 and GAS5 have not been evaluated in DM/DR in our population before; 3) although the levels of circulating lncRNAs have been associated with the development of DR [18,19], most of the previous studies focused on diabetic rat models or endothelial cells cultured in high-glucose conditions [12,20,21].