[Glycated albumin as a marker of glycemia in diabetes and its vascular complications]

Abstract

Effective glycemic control is very important to prevent the onset and the progression of chronic complications in diabetic patients. It is known that glycation of various proteins is increased in diabetic patients compared with non-diabetics. Among these glycated proteins, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is commonly used as a gold standard index of glycemic control in the clinical setting. However, it can be unreliable in conditions affecting the lifespan of erythrocytes (120 days) as well as in the clinical state in which glycemic control alleviates or deteriorates in a short period. By overcoming the shortcomings of HbA1c, glycated albumin (GA) has gained interest as a useful index for an intermediate glycation period (2 weeks) and pathogenic protein. After giving a brief overview of the key role of HbA1c as a long-term glycemic marker, this review focuses on (a) glycation of human albumin and its main properties, (b) methods of GA determination, (c) the recent clinical status of GA as a glycemic index in diabetic patients and its association with vascular complications. Finally, conditions with a possible inaccurate GA level are also mentioned.