Close relationship between serum hyaluronan levels and vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To clarify the relationship between serum hyaluronan levels and vascular function in type 2 diabetic patients.

Methods: A cross-sectional cohort study.

Results: In multivariate regression analysis, endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation was associated with age and duration of diabetes, but not with serum hyaluronan level, while endothelium-independent nitroglycerine-mediated dilation (NMD) was only associated with serum hyaluronan level (standardized estimate = -0.401, p = 0.003). NMD in the lowest tertile of hyaluronan level was significantly higher than the other tertiles (15.9% versus 12.5% and 10.4%, p = 0.047 and p = 0.002, respectively).

Conclusions: Serum hyaluronan level may be useful as a surrogate marker for early changes in the vascular function, which often occurs in patients with diabetes mellitus.