Les produits de glycation avancée des protéines

Diabetes mellitus is a disease that promotes protein glycation because of hyperglycemia and oxidative stress. Glycation is a nonenzymatic post-translational modification which consists in the binding of oses or their metabolites to amino groups of proteins. This binding is followed by molecular rearrangements leading to the formation of complex products called "Advanced Glycation End-products" (AGEs). Nonenzymatic glycation is responsible for the molecular aging of proteins by modifying their structural and functional properties, and participates in the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus at different levels (i.e. tissue, cellular and molecular levels). The purpose of this article is to describe the glycation reaction, to explain how it participates in the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus, and to discuss the usefulness of AGEs as biomarkers in this pathological context.