TUG1 and diabetic retinopathy: One study was conducted by Duan et al., who reported that TUG1 gene polymorphism increased the risk of osteoarthritis [16], and the second study by Mohammad et al., who stated that the association of TUG1 gene polymorphism increased the risk of diabetic retinopathy [21], which indicated that TUG1 variants might contribute to inflammatory disorders.