Soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products and increased aortic stiffness in the general population
Abstract
It has been suggested that accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is involved in several pathophysiological processes in the vessel wall. We hypothesized that low levels of the soluble receptor for AGEs (sRAGE) might be associated with increased arterial stiffness, a manifestation of vascular ageing in the general population.
Using a cross-sectional design, we analyzed 1077 subjects from the Czech post-MONICA study. The aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) was measured using a Sphygmocor device. sRAGE concentrations were assessed in frozen samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods (R&D Systems). aPWV significantly (P= 9.3m s(-1)), adjusted for all potential confounders of 2.05 (95% confidence interval: 1.26-3.32; P 0.004), but this was only the case for non-diabetic hypertensive patients.
In contrast, a low sRAGE was rejected as an independent predictor of an increased aPWV in normotensive or diabetic subjects using similar regression models. In conclusion, low circulating sRAGE was independently associated with increased arterial stiffness in a general population-based sample, but this was only observed in hypertensive non-diabetic patients.