To identify a sensitive and early marker of vascular organ damage in T1DM and to provide some insight on mechanisms underlying these early vascular changes, the present study compared several different indices of vascular structure and function between T1DM adolescents and healthy controls of similar age, and it also tested the relationships between the vascular measures and circulating EPCs, glyco-metabolic control, serum levels of AGEs, soluble receptors for AGEs (sRAGE) and adiponectin. The gene discussed is ADIPOQ; the disease is type 1 diabetes mellitus.