High blood sugar can ‘reprogram’ stem cells, damaging heart health

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In a new study from the University of Oxford, researchers found high blood sugar can “reprogram” stem cells, leading to a lasting increase in the risk of developing dangerous atherosclerosis.

The researchers found that high blood glucose, a hallmark of diabetes, alters stem cells in the bone marrow that go on to become white blood cells called macrophages.

As a result, these macrophages become inflammatory and contribute to the development of atherosclerotic plaques that can cause heart attacks.

This finding explains why people with diabetes are at increased risk of heart attack, even after their blood glucose levels are brought back under control, a paradox that has troubled doctors for years.

In the study, the team examined the differences in white blood cells in people with and without type 2 diabetes.

They removed the white blood cells from blood samples and grew them in an environment with normal glucose levels.

Those from people with type 2 diabetes showed a greatly exaggerated inflammatory response compared to the cells from people without the condition.

Researchers also extracted stem cells from the bone marrow of mice with and without diabetes and transplanted these into mice with normal blood glucose levels.

The bone marrow taken from diabetic mice ‘remembered’ its exposure to high levels of glucose and as a result, the mice receiving this bone marrow developed almost double the number of atherosclerotic plaques.

The team also found that those that had developed from stem cells in the bone marrow of diabetic mice had been permanently altered to become more inflammatory.

The researchers now want to explore new avenues for treatments based on this finding. They also want to find out whether short periods of increased blood glucose in people without diabetes have this damaging effect.

This study is the first to show that diabetes causes long-term changes to the immune system, and how this might account for the sustained increase in the risk of a heart attack.

The team says doctors need to change the way doctors think about, and treat, diabetes. By focusing too narrowly on managing a person’s blood sugar levels, doctors are only addressing part of the problem.

Right now, people with diabetes aren’t receiving effective treatment for their increased risk of heart and circulatory disease. These findings identify new opportunities for preventing and treating the complications of diabetes.

If you care about high blood sugar, please read studies about this common eating habit may lead to high blood sugar, weight gain and findings of this common fruit may help reduce your blood sugar after a meal.

For more information about blood sugar control, please see recent studies about a new way to reverse high blood sugar and muscle loss and results showing that this popular drink may help control diabetes, lower blood sugar.

The study is published in Circulation. One author of the study is Professor Robin Choudhury.

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