Advanced Glycation End Products, Oxidation Products, and Incident Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine whether plasma levels of advanced glycation end products (AGE) and oxidation products (OP) predict the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Five specific AGE (methylglyoxal hydroimidazolone, carboxymethyl lysine, carboxyethyl lysine, 3-deoxyglucosone hydroimidazolone, and glyoxal hydroimidazolone) and two OP (2-aminoadipic acid and methionine sulfoxide [MetSO]) were measured at baseline in two intensive glucose-lowering studies: ) a subcohort of the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT) ( = 445) and ) a nested case-control subgroup from the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) study ( = 271).

Results: Increased levels of several AGE and OP were associated with older age, decreased kidney function, previous CVD, and longer diabetes duration, but not with hemoglobin A. In the VADT, increased risk of incident CVD events ( = 107) was associated with lower MetSO after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, sex, prior CVD event, kidney function, treatment assignment, and diabetes duration (hazard ratio [HR] 0.53; 95% CI 0.28-0.99; = 0.047). Individuals with both low MetSO and high 3-deoxyglucosone hydroimidazolone concentrations were at highest risk for CVD (HR 1.70; = 0.01). In the ACCORD study, those with incident CVD events ( = 136) had lower MetSO (by 14%; = 0.007) and higher glyoxal hydroimidazolone and carboxymethyl lysine (by 18% and 15%, respectively; = 0.04 for both); however, only the difference in MetSO remained significant after adjustment for prior CVD event ( = 0.002).

Conclusions: Lower levels of MetSO and higher levels of select AGE are associated with increased incident CVD and may help account for the limited benefit of intensive glucose lowering in type 2 diabetes.