{"title":"Serum Neopterin, Biopterin, Tryptophan, and Kynurenine Levels in Patients with Fabry Disease","authors":"Tuğçe Uçar, Mehmet Şerif Cansever, Esra Isat, Tanyel Zubarioğlu, Ayşe Çiğdem Aktuğlu Zeybek, Birol Topçu, Nurhan Seyahi, Ertuğrul Kıykım","doi":"10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2024.2023-10-98","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Fabry disease is characterized by the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide. Substrate accumulation in lysosomes is thought to trigger an inflammatory response and is responsible for progressive organ damage through the induction of autoimmunity. The levels of pteridine and kynurenine pathway metabolites increase when immune activation is observed and are employed to monitor several diseases and determine prognosis.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To elucidate the effects of immune activation on the pathophysiology of Fabry disease and to investigate the potential utility of pteridine and kynurenine metabolites.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>A prospective case-control study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, 33 patients with Fabry disease and 33 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Blood pteridine and kynurenine metabolites were studied in both groups. Organ involvement in Fabry disease and its correlation with the pteridine and kynurenine pathways were also investigated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The patients’ neopterin and biopterin levels and the tryptophan/kynurenine ratio were statistically higher than those of the healthy control group (<i>p</i> < 0.05). A statistically significant association was found between neopterin levels and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias, and GFR values (<i>p</i> = 0.044, <i>p</i> = 0.021, and <i>p</i> = 0.030, respectively), tryptophan and corneal verticillate, hearing loss and tinnitus (<i>p</i> = 0.010, <i>p</i> = 0.009 and <i>p</i> = 0.046, respectively), and kynurenine levels and valvular heart disease (<i>p</i> = 0.020).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From the onset of the disease, patients with Fabry disease exhibited elevated levels of inflammation and immune activation. Furthermore, inflammation and immune activation markers can be used as early disease biomarkers.</p>","PeriodicalId":8690,"journal":{"name":"Balkan Medical Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10913122/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Balkan Medical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2024.2023-10-98","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Fabry disease is characterized by the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide. Substrate accumulation in lysosomes is thought to trigger an inflammatory response and is responsible for progressive organ damage through the induction of autoimmunity. The levels of pteridine and kynurenine pathway metabolites increase when immune activation is observed and are employed to monitor several diseases and determine prognosis.
Aims: To elucidate the effects of immune activation on the pathophysiology of Fabry disease and to investigate the potential utility of pteridine and kynurenine metabolites.
Study design: A prospective case-control study.
Methods: In this study, 33 patients with Fabry disease and 33 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were included. Blood pteridine and kynurenine metabolites were studied in both groups. Organ involvement in Fabry disease and its correlation with the pteridine and kynurenine pathways were also investigated.
Results: The patients’ neopterin and biopterin levels and the tryptophan/kynurenine ratio were statistically higher than those of the healthy control group (p < 0.05). A statistically significant association was found between neopterin levels and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias, and GFR values (p = 0.044, p = 0.021, and p = 0.030, respectively), tryptophan and corneal verticillate, hearing loss and tinnitus (p = 0.010, p = 0.009 and p = 0.046, respectively), and kynurenine levels and valvular heart disease (p = 0.020).
Conclusion: From the onset of the disease, patients with Fabry disease exhibited elevated levels of inflammation and immune activation. Furthermore, inflammation and immune activation markers can be used as early disease biomarkers.
期刊介绍:
The Balkan Medical Journal (Balkan Med J) is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal that publishes interesting clinical and experimental research conducted in all fields of medicine, interesting case reports and clinical images, invited reviews, editorials, letters, comments and letters to the Editor including reports on publication and research ethics. The journal is the official scientific publication of the Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey and is printed six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. The language of the journal is English.
The journal is based on independent and unbiased double-blinded peer-reviewed principles. Only unpublished papers that are not under review for publication elsewhere can be submitted. Balkan Medical Journal does not accept multiple submission and duplicate submission even though the previous one was published in a different language. The authors are responsible for the scientific content of the material to be published. The Balkan Medical Journal reserves the right to request any research materials on which the paper is based.
The Balkan Medical Journal encourages and enables academicians, researchers, specialists and primary care physicians of Balkan countries to publish their valuable research in all branches of medicine. The primary aim of the journal is to publish original articles with high scientific and ethical quality and serve as a good example of medical publications in the Balkans as well as in the World.