Total serum sialic acid levels were significantly elevated in a relatively small group of NIDDM patients and were correlated with hypertension and retinopathy. A larger study of circulating sialic acid concentrations as a risk factor for the development or marker of diabetic angiopathy is therefore justified.

No abstract

Serum total sialic acid (TSA) has gained medical interest, particularly as a cardiovascular risk factor and it has been hypothesized that serum levels relate to serum acute phase proteins, some of which are sialylated. We assayed serum TSA and also lipid associated sialic acid (LASA) in 50 normal individuals (24 male) and 15 subjects (12 male) who had experienced a myocardial infarct. The mean serum TSA in the normal individuals was 2.05 SD 0.38 mmol/L (range 1.16-2.74) and the mean serum LASA was 0.70 SD 0.19 mmol/L (range 0.23-1.03). We also measured five serum acute phase proteins and found a good correlation between these and serum TSA: C-reactive protein, r = 0.52, P < 0.001, alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, r = 0.79, P < 0.0001, alpha-2-macroglobulin, r = 0.38, P < 0.01 and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, r = 0.32, P < 0.05. A significant correlation between plasma TSA and plasma C-reactive protein (r = 0.47, P < 0.04) and also fibrinogen (r = 0.53, P < 0.04) was noted on day one following the myocardial infarction, whereas a significant correlation between plasma TSA and plasma alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (r = 0.51, P < 0.03) and also plasma alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (r = 0.64, P < 0.05) was found on day two following the infarction. Thus it would seem that serum TSA is at least in part related to some of the acute phase proteins in both healthy individuals and those having had a myocardial infarction.

No abstract

Plasma total sialic acid (TSA) and lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA) were measured in 19 patients with a myocardial infarction (MI) on days 1, 2, and 5 and in 19 normal subjects. On each day plasma TSA was elevated in the MI patients as compared with that of normal subjects, although no significant difference was seen in the plasma LASA between the two groups. The following plasma acute-phase proteins were also assayed in the MI patients and the normal subjects: C-reactive protein (CRP), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP), alpha-1 antichymotrypsin (ACT), alpha-2 macroglobulin (AMG), and fibrinogen (FIB). Significantly elevated plasma concentrations were found in the MI patients as compared with normal subjects. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between some of these plasma acute-phase proteins (ACT, AMG, and FIB) and plasma TSA in the MI patients and also in normal subjects (ACT, AMG, CRP, and FIB). However, no significant difference was noted in any of the plasma acute-phase proteins, or plasma TSA, or plasma LASA between survivors and patients who died of their MI.