Patients with diabetes have premature aging of their arteries, so that it is increasingly difficult for blood to reach their tissues and this causes the organs to stop working properly. This can end up causing microvascular complications, affecting organs such as the eyes or kidneys, and macrovascular complications, which can lead to heart or brain infarctions.
In a new collaborative study of the Center for Red Biomedical Research on Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) in Spain, a new biomarker has been described in the blood of patients with Diabetes type 1 that allows to know the deterioration of your arteries. The study has been led by the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT) in Sabadell, Barcelona.
The new biomarker, through a blood test, makes it possible to detect vascular aging in people with type 1 diabetes before it is identified by the classical methods currently available. This is highly relevant since it allows for the earliest possible detection of the risks of vascular complications in various vital organs. The WHO estimates that there are currently more than 9 million people in the world with type 1 diabetes.
The publication of this work is the result of the collaboration of the CIBERDEM teams at the I3PT, together with the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM-Hospital del Mar) and the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), thanks to the Funding from the Carlos III Health Institute. As highlighted by the main researcher of the study, José Miguel González Clemente, from the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Parc Taulí University Hospital, head of the Diabetes-cardiovascular risk group of the I3PT and member of the SGR 1221 group of the IISPV and CIBERDEM, the ” work contains several novel contributions.
Part of the research team in the I3PT. (Photo: Parc Taulí / IISPV / CIBERDEM)
On the one hand, the concept of “early vascular aging in type 1 diabetes” is introduced for the first time, which would be the basis of all vascular complications in these patients. “This aging can be determined with a simple test that measures the speed at which pulse waves travel between the carotid and femoral arteries. This speed increases as the wall of the large arteries hardens, which is known as arterial stiffness”, explains the researcher.
“Today we know that as arterial stiffness increases, a series of processes occur that first affect the retina, followed by the kidneys, and then damage to the arteries of the heart and brain, the main causes of morbidity and mortality in patients. these patients. This has led to the focus being placed on the arterial wall as a new target organ to be taken into account early in the population with type 1 diabetes”, he underlined.
A second novel aspect of the study is the use of state-of-the-art techniques such as metabolomics to measure fractions of blood proteins, not quantifiable with the usual technology, which have been shown to provide early and relevant information on the state of chronic inflammation that accompanies stiffness. arterial in these patients. With it, people with type 1 diabetes who present a greater degree of vascular aging can be better identified, explains Gemma Llauradó, a member of the cardiovascular risk and nutrition research group at IMIM-Hospital del Mar and an assistant physician at the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service. of the Hospital del Mar.
Thirdly, according to the research team, the evaluation of vascular aging in patients with type 1 diabetes is crucial in order to be able to detect as early as possible a greater risk of vascular complications in various organs. “The work sheds a little more light in this regard, which will contribute to more personalized medicine in type 1 diabetes and better resource management in the health system,” says Joan J. Vendrell, head of the Endocrinology Service. and Nutrition and head of the Diabetes and associated metabolic diseases (DIAMET) research group of the IISPV.
The study is titled “Measurement of Serum N-Glycans in the Assessment of Early Vascular Aging (Arterial Stiffness) in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes.” And it has been published in the academic journal Diabetes Care. (Source: Parc Taulí / IISPV / CIBERDEM)