Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
12
CHAPTER
Endothelial Adhesion Molecules in
Diabetes
Yiqing Song
1, *
, Cuilin Zhang
2
and Simin Liu
3
1
Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard
Medical School, 900 Commonwealth Avenue East, Boston, Massachusetts,
02148, USA, E-mail:
ysong3@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
2
Epidemiology Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention
Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
E-mail:
zhangcu@mail.nih.gov
3
Program on Genomics and Nutrition, School of Public Health, UCLA,
Box 951772, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles,
CA 90095-1772, USA, E-mail:
siminliu@ucla.edu
ABSTRACT
A large body of evidence supports the contention that endothelial dysfunction is an
important pathological basis for the metabolic or insulin resistance syndrome and
may thus play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (type 1 and type
2) and related complications. Measurable levels of some soluble cellular adhesion
molecules including E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and
vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) may rel ect the degree of endothelial
activation (i.e., released by activated endothelial cells to the general circulation, these
molecules are considered useful indicators of endothelial dysfunction/activation).
Elevated levels of soluble cellular adhesion molecules have been associated with
insulin resistance and its associated metabolic abnormalities including diabetic
complications. Recent evidence from several large prospective studies has shown
that elevated levels of endothelial biomarkers, especially E-selectin, VCAM-1, and
