Finding could help identify diabetes patients at risk of vascular damage

The longer someone has type 2 diabetes, the higher their cardiovascular disease risk, and changes in red blood cells may help explain it, new research suggests.

The study found red blood cells from patients with long-term diabetes harmed blood vessel function, while no such effect was seen in those newly diagnosed.

After seven years of follow-up, the blood cells of people initially diagnosed had developed the same harmful properties.

Zhichao Zhou, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet and lead author, said: “What really stands out in our study is that it is not only the presence of type 2 diabetes that matters, but how long you have had the disease.

“It is only after several years that red blood cells develop a harmful effect on blood vessels.”

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden studied animals and patients with type 2 diabetes.

They identified microRNA-210, a small RNA that helps regulate gene activity, as a possible early biomarker of cardiovascular risk.

When its levels were restored in red blood cells, blood vessel function improved.

Eftychia Kontidou, doctoral student and first author, said: “If we can identify which patients are at greatest risk before vascular damage has already occurred, we can also become better at preventing complications.”

The researchers are now investigating whether the biomarker can be used in larger population studies.