Long –Term Diabetes Can Weaken Blood Vessels

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A new scientific study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden shows that having type 2 diabetes for many years can damage blood vessels through changes that occur inside red blood cells.

Researchers found that people who had lived with diabetes for more than seven years had higher levels of a small molecule called microRNA-210-3p in their red blood cells. This molecule interferes with normal blood vessel function and reduces the ability of blood vessels to relax properly — an important sign of healthy circulation.

In laboratory experiments, blood vessels exposed to red blood cells from long-term diabetes patients showed poorer function compared with those exposed to red blood cells from newly diagnosed patients. When scientists artificially increased microRNA-210-3p in red blood cells from newly diagnosed patients, the same blood vessel problems appeared. This confirms that this molecule plays a direct role in damaging the blood vessels over time.

The study also showed that microRNA-210-3p affects a protein involved in energy production inside cells, which may explain how long-term diabetes gradually weakens vascular health.

These findings help explain why people with long-standing type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of heart disease and circulation problems, even when their blood sugar is under control. The researchers suggest that red blood cells are not just oxygen carriers but active contributors to diabetes-related vascular damage.

In the future, targeting this microRNA may open new ways to protect blood vessels and reduce cardiovascular complications in people with long-term type 2diabetes.

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Reference

Kontidou, E., Collado, A., Humoud, R., Manickam, K., Tengbom, J., Jiao, T., Alvarsson, M., Yang, J., Mellbin, L., Mahdi, A., Pernow, J., & Zhou, Z. (2026). Long duration of type 2 diabetes drives erythrocyte-induced vascular endothelial dysfunction: A link to miRNA-210-3p. Diabetes. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2337/db25-0463

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