Sotomayor CG, Gomes-Neto AW, van Londen M, et al. - In this prospective cohort study, researchers investigated whether a link exists between circulating advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and long-term risk of cardiovascular mortality in stable kidney transplant recipients. They also investigated whether inflammatory, oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction biomarkers mediated such a link. This analysis included 555 kidney transplant recipients (age 51 ± 12 years, 56% men). Participants were observed during a median duration of 6.9 years. Direct associations of N^ε-Carboxymethyl]lysine (CML) and N^ε-Carboxyethyl]lysine (CEL) levels with cardiovascular mortality were identified. These links were independent of age, diabetes, smoking status, body mass index, eGFR and proteinuria. Nearly 35% of the link of CML and CEL, with cardiovascular mortality, was consistently explained by free thiol groups and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in mediation analyses. Overall, an independent association of circulating levels of AGEs with long-term risk of cardiovascular mortality was evident among participants.