Aim To investigate the effect of rosiglitazone(RSG) on glucose-induced adhesion of human endothelial cells.Methods Endothelial cells were incubated with different concentrations of glucose,and then treated with different concentrations of rosiglitazone.Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1) protein and mRNA expression was detected by immunocytochemical method and RT-PCR.Endothelial-monocyte adhesion assays were carried out in treated cells.Results VCAM-1 mRNA and protein expression were increased significantly with glucose concentration increased,which was obvious at 16.7 mmol/L glucose group(P<0.05).Compared with RSG untreated group,relative VCAM-1 mRNA and protein expression decreased to varying degrees in the RSG treated group(P<0.05).Furthermore,endothelial-monocyte adhesion increased with increment of glucose concentration(P<0.05) and decreased after treatment of high dose RSG(P<0.05).Conclusions RSG may appear to have direct anti-diabetes-associated-atherosclerosis which is at least partly due to effects on VCAM-1 expression induced by glucose,which leads to decreased endothelial-monocyte adhesion and macrophage infiltration.