title: Advanced glycation end-products in patients with chronic alcohol misuse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of our study was to determine serum levels of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) in patients with chronic alcohol misuse and to examine their relationship to markers of nutrition and inflammation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of 23 heavy alcohol drinkers treated for chronic alcohol misuse and 22 healthy controls. Studied parameters included AGE (fluorescence, CML - carboxymethyllysine and pentosidine), lipids, glucose, albumin, leptin, prealbumin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A).
  
  
  RESULTS
  AGE fluorescence was significantly higher in chronic alcoholic patients than in healthy subjects (4.3 +/- 0.7 x 10(3) vs 3.7 +/- 0.5 x 10(3) AU/g protein, P < 0.005), while CML was only slightly but not significantly elevated (569.1 +/- 106.6 vs 545.5 +/- 85.8 microg/l) and pentosidine levels did not differ (105.4 +/- 29 vs 102.2 +/- 23 nmol/l). In alcoholics, AGE correlate significantly negatively with leptin (r = -0.46, P < 0.05) and pentosidine with prealbumin (r = -0.43, P < 0.05), otherwise there was no relationship between AGE and other biochemical parameters (glucose, cholesterol, albumin, CRP, PAPP-A).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest a more complex relationship among advanced glycation, oxidative stress and metabolism of ethanol and their link to nutrition and nutrition-associated parameters. AGE as a result of oxidative stress might be similarly linked to increased cardiovascular risk of heavy alcohol drinkers, as are malnutrition and inflammation; however, further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biochemistry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Katerinská 32, 121 08 Prague 2, Czech Republic. marta.kalousova@seznam.cz
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalousová
authors.forename: Tomás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zima
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spacek
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Jirina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soukupová
authors.forename: Kveta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pelinkova
authors.forename: Rosemarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kientsch-Engel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced