When investigating sub-phenotypes of T2DM, diabetic retinopathy has been identified to be associated with ACVRIC (rs4664229), ZFHX4 (rs61729527), WNT9B (rs4968281), SHANK3 (rs9616915), ZSCAN5A (rs7252603), and DCP1B (rs715146, rs1044950, rs113147414) gene. Here, ZSCAN5A is linked to diabetic retinopathy.