title: Serum protein-bound hexose in diabetes: the effect of glycemic control.
abstract: To determine whether the carbohydrate content of serum proteins is related to overall glycemic control, we studied serum protein-bound hexose and glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1(a+b+c)] in 37 ambulant diabetic patients and 32 nondiabetic controls. Protein-bound hexose was correlated with HbA1(a+b+c) in the diabetic patients (r = 0.36, P less than 0.025). The mean protein-bound hexose level of the diabetic patients was greater than that of the controls (190.8 versus 174.7 mg/dl, P less than 0.01), but diabetic patients with HbA1(a+b+c) less than 12% had a mean protein-bound hexose similar to the controls. In nine of the diabetic patients, mean protein-bound hexose and HbA1(a+b+c) were significantly reduced during a period of intensive outpatient care, while two major serum glycoproteins, haptoglobins and alpha-1-antitrypsin, were unchanged. Our findings support the hypothesis that increased glycosylation of serum proteins may occur in diabetes mellitus; this abnormality in serum protein-bound hexose may be corrected by close attention to overall glycemic control.
mesh_terms: D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006242:Haptoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006441:Hemoglobin A / Q000032:analysis; D006601:Hexoses / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D006242:Haptoglobins; D006601:Hexoses; D006441:Hemoglobin A