Additionally, studies have reported that aldose reductase inhibitors (ARI) could be used to prevent and treat diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy (Chang, Shieh & Petrash, 2019; He et al., 2019; Schemmel, Padiyara & D’Souza, 2010; Sekiguchi et al., 2019). Here, AKR1B1 is linked to diabetic retinopathy.