CDK8 and diabetic retinopathy: CDK8 can promote Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) expression via the β-catenin-KLF2 axis (Wei et al., 2018; Menzl et al., 2019), thereby driving angiogenesis, which is implicated in retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) through increased VEGF signaling (Callan et al., 2025).