Increased breath biomarkers of oxidative stress in diabetes mellitus.
BACKGROUND
Oxidative stress has been implicated in the major complications of diabetes mellitus, including retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and accelerated coronary artery disease. There is a clinical need for a marker of oxidative stress which could potentially identify diabetic patients at increased risk for these complications. We measured oxidative age, a new breath marker of oxidative stress, in diabetic patients.


METHODS
Three groups were studied: type 1 diabetes mellitus (n=9), type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=53) and non-diabetic normals (n=39). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath were assayed by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy to construct the breath methylated alkane contour (BMAC), a three-dimensional display of oxidative stress markers, C4-C20 alkanes and monomethylated alkanes. The collective abundance of these VOCs was reduced to a single value, the oxidative age, comprising the volume under the curve of the BMAC corrected for chronological age.


RESULTS
Oxidative age was significantly increased in type 1 diabetes (mean=0.103, S.E.M.=0.119, p<0.01) and type 2 diabetes (mean=0.103, S.E.M.=0.047, p<0.05) compared to age-matched normals (mean=-0.248, S.E.M.=0.079). No significant correlation between oxidative age and blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C was observed in either group.


CONCLUSIONS
Oxidative age, a marker of oxidative stress, was significantly increased in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Oxidative age merits further study as a candidate marker of risk for the complications of diabetes mellitus.
Phillips
Michael
M
Menssana Research Inc., 1 Horizon Road, Suite 1415, Fort Lee, NJ 07024, USA. mphillips@menssanaresearch.com
Cataneo
Renee N
RN
Cheema
Taseer
T
Greenberg
Joel
J
D000328:Adult; D000473:Alkanes / Q000032:analysis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001944:Breath Tests; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012307:Risk Factors
D000473:Alkanes; D015415:Biomarkers; D009930:Organic Chemicals