Positive association between serum level of glyceraldehyde-derived advanced glycation end products and vascular inflammation evaluated by [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.
OBJECTIVE
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) evoke inflammatory reactions, contributing to the development and progression of atherosclerosis. We investigated the relationship between serum AGE level and vascular inflammation.


METHODS
The study involved 275 outpatients at Kurume University, Japan (189 males and 86 females; mean age 61.2 ± 8.8 years) who underwent complete history and physical examinations and determinations of blood chemistry and anthropometric variables, including AGEs. Serum AGE level was examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vascular [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, an index of vascular inflammation, was measured as blood-normalized standardized uptake value, known as the target-to-background ratio (TBR), by FDG-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Furthermore, we examined whether the changes in serum AGE level after treatment with oral hypoglycemia agents (OHAs) were correlated with those of TBR in another 18 subjects whose AGE value was >14.2 units/mL (mean ± 2 SD).


RESULTS
Mean serum AGE level and carotid TBR values were 9.15 ± 2.53 and 1.43 ± 0.22 units/mL, respectively. Multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that TBR was independently correlated with AGEs (P < 0.001), carotid intima-media thickness (P < 0.01), and BMI (P < 0.02). When age- and sex-adjusted AGE values stratified by TBR tertiles were compared using ANCOVA, a significant trend was observed (P < 0.01). In addition, the changes in AGEs after OHA treatment were positively (r = 0.50, P < 0.05) correlated with those in TBR value.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study reveals that serum AGE level is independently associated with vascular inflammation evaluated by FDG-PET, suggesting that circulating AGE value may be a biomarker that could reflect vascular inflammation within an area of atherosclerosis.
Department of Medicine, Division of Cardio-Vascular Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan. ntahara@med.kurume-u.ac.jp
Nobuhiro
N
Tahara
Sho-ichi
S
Yamagishi
Masayoshi
M
Takeuchi
Akihiro
A
Honda
Atsuko
A
Tahara
Yoshikazu
Y
Nitta
Norihiro
N
Kodama
Minori
M
Mizoguchi
Hayato
H
Kaida
Masatoshi
M
Ishibashi
Naofumi
N
Hayabuchi
Takanori
T
Matsui
Tsutomu
T
Imaizumi
D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18