Diabetes is considered to be an epidemic with more than 50 people diagnosed in New Zealand every day. High blood glucose levels are the hallmark of diabetes and are routinely measured as a percentage of glycated vs non-glycated hemoglobin. However, the blood glucose level alone does not accurately predict secondary diabetic complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy, renal or cardiovascular malfunction. In order to predict these secondary complications a new hemoglobin biomarker is proposed that monitors oxidative stress.

Hemoglobin was modified using acrolein, a reactive lipid peroxidation product, to simulate oxidative stress. Biophysical characterisation revealed cross-linking between tetramers whilst maintaining secondary and tertiary structural integrity as confirmed by analytical ultracentrifugation and circular dichroism. Crystallisation as well as proteomics approaches are currently investigating the preferred target sites for acrolein binding. This will inform the design of a mass spectrometry based screening assay of patient blood sample. Furthermore highly specific monoclonal antibody will be generated to develop an immuno-assay.