VEGFA and type 2 diabetes mellitus: In this study, we tested the hypothesis about an association of five polymorphisms of the VEGF (-2549 I/D), RAGE (-429 T/C and -374 T/A), TCF7L2 (rs7903146), and ITGA2 (BglII) genes with a predisposition to DR among T2DM patients in the Kazakhstan population.