Elevated serum levels of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in NIDDM patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
We studied 68 Japanese NIDDM patients (38 men and 30 women), aged 56.9+/-1.2 years (range 33-75 years), with a BMI of 23.1+/-0.5 kg/m2 without hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetic macroangiopathy for evaluating the relationship between serum soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) levels and the severity of diabetic retinopathy. Fundus examination was performed by an ophthalmologist using an ophthalmoscope, and the findings were graded as: (1) no signs of diabetic retinopathy (NDR), (2) background diabetic retinopathy (BDR), or (3) proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Serum sVCAM-1 levels were measured in duplicate by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the soluble VCAM-1 KIT (R&D Systems Ltd., Ablingdon, Oxfordshire, UK). There was no difference in serum sVCAM-1 levels between patients with BDR (n = 17) and patients with NDR (n = 40) (1035.3+/-104.4 and 978.8+/-48.9 ng/ml, respectively, P = 0.8), but patients with PDR (n = 11) showed a significant increase of serum sVCAM-1 levels compared with patients with NDR (1281.8+/-166.3 and 978.8+/-48.9 ng/ml, respectively, P = 0.02). Although serum sVCAM-1 levels were correlated, not only with age but also with the known diabetic duration (r = 0.39, P = 0.001, and r = 0.40, P = 0.0007, respectively), age-adjusted sVCAM-1 levels were still significantly higher in the PDR group than in the NDR group. In contrast. serum sVCAM-1 levels were not related to the presence of diabetic nephropathy or HbA1c levels. Our results suggest that sVCAM-1 might be implicated in the development of the diabetic retinopathy, and measurement of serum sVCAM-1 levels in NIDDM patients maybe clinically useful for assessing the severity and possibly the activity of diabetic retinopathy.
Yoshizawa
M
M
First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
Nagai
Y
Y
Ohsawa
K
K
Ohta
M
M
Yamashita
H
H
Hisada
A
A
Miyamoto
I
I
Miura
K
K
Takamura
T
T
Kobayashi
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D002784:Cholesterol; D003404:Creatinine