YKL-40 and Complications in Type 2 Diabetes

It is well recognized now that diabetes mellitus is a systemic vasculopathy and causes various micro- and macrovascular complications. Vascular damage and endothelium dysfunction in diabetes mellitus involve a chronic inflammatory process via a complicated mechanism.

YKL-40 is a 40 kD lectin molecule. It is secreted by various cells, including macrophages, vascular smooth muscle cells and giant cells, and the level of YKL-40 is found elevated in both acute (eg. infection) and chronic (eg. rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus or cirrhosis of the liver) inflammatory processes. The plasma concentration of YKL-40 is elevated in the patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with non-diabetic controls, and is associated with insulin resistance, fasting plasma glucose and plasma IL-6 concentrations. Furthermore, the concentration of YKL-40 is elevated and is associated with the severity of albuminuria in the patients of type 1 diabetes.

The objective of this study is to establish the relationship between plasma concentration of YKL-40 with various vascular complications in the patients of type 2 diabetes, and to evaluate its potential as a biomarker for the vascular diabetic complications in patients with type 2 diabetes.