Blood proteins may warn of diabetes.

Blood proteins may warn of diabetes. The April 28, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association contains an article that indicates blood proteins causing artery damage may also be an early-warning sign of diabetes. The article focuses on a study begun in 1976, looking for three proteins--E-selectin, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1--in blood samples from 32,826 female nurses; additional blood samples were taken in 1989 and 1990. Within the next decade after initial sampling, 737 developed diabetes. Participants with the highest initial levels of E-selectin were five times more likely to develop the disease. The highest ICAM-1 levels in the blood tripled the risk. "E-selectin is produced by vessel-lining cells, sometimes in response to inflammation, while the two other proteins are produced by those cells and by white blood cells in response to inflammation," says lead author, Dr. James Meigs of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He theorizes that inflammation might hamper the slippery blood vessel linings by "irritating or roughing up" the linings, perhaps ultimately leading to high blood-sugar levels and diabetes. Improving the function of blood vessel walls could help slow the increasing worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes.