APEX1 and diabetic retinopathy: Multiple studies report the many functions of APE1/Ref-1 in regulation of key biological functions that control redox homeostatsis [2–4], mitochondrial metabolism [5,6], inflammatory responses [7], neo-vascularization [8,9] and others that make it an attractive target in pathologies such as cancer, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), retinal ocular diseases [e.g. diabetic retinopathy (DR), diabetic macular edema (DME), and wet age-related macular degeneration (Neovascular AMD)].