Soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products: a new biomarker in diagnosis and prognosis of chronic inflammatory diseases

The formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a result of the non-enzymatic reaction between sugars and free amino groups of proteins. AGEs, through interacting with their specific receptor for AGES (RAGE), result in activation of pro-inflammatory states and are involved in numerous pathologic situations. The soluble form of RAGE (sRAGE) is able to act as a decoy to avoid interaction of RAGE with its pro-inflammatory ligands (AGEs, HMGB1, S100 proteins). sRAGE levels have been found to be decreased in chronic inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis, diabetes, renal failure and the aging process. The use of measuring circulating sRAGEs may prove to be a valuable vascular biomarker and in this review, we describe the implications of sRAGE in inflammation and propose that this molecule may represent a future therapeutic target in chronic inflammatory diseases.