VEGFA and diabetic retinopathy: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a pro-angiogenic factor which modulates vasculogenesis and neoangiogenesis, presents essential properties in both physiological and pathological conditions, such as wound healing and repair, pregnancy, diabetic retinopathy, tumor growth and metastasis, and ischemic processes, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke (Melincovici et al., 2018; Shim and Madsen, 2018).