Type 2 diabetes is known to increase a patient's risk of cardiovascular complications, sometimes doing serious damage to their blood vessels. The specific cause of that blood vessel damage, however, has remained largely unknown—until now.
According to a new analysis published in Diabetes, levels of a small molecule called microRNA-210 were considerably reduced in the red blood cells of 36 patients with type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, that molecule was found in normal levels in the red blood cells of 32 healthy patients.
The study's authors observed that this reduction in microRNA-210 was responsible for alterations in specific vascular protein levels and impaired blood vessel endothelial cell function.
Furthermore, in laboratory experiments, restoration of microRNA-210 levels in red blood cells helped prevent the development of vascular injury through specific molecular changes.
“The findings demonstrate a previously unrecognized cause of vascular injury in type 2 diabetes,” said Zhichao Zhou, researcher at the department of medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, in a press release. “We hope that the results will pave the way for new therapies that increase red blood cell microRNA-210 levels and thereby prevent vascular injury in patients with type 2 diabetes.”
Read the full study here.