Serum thioredoxin and alpha-tocopherol concentrations in patients with major risk factors.
BACKGROUND
Oxidative stress, which is thought to be increased in subjects with various coronary risk factors, induces thioredoxin (TRX), a redox-active protein.


RESULTS
To determine whether oxidative stress is increased, serum concentrations of both TRX and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) were determined in 12 control subjects without any coronary risk factors (CONTROL), 6 current smokers (SMOKING), 19 hypertensive patients (HT), 7 hypercholesterolemic patients (HC) and 14 subjects with multiple risk factors (MULTIPLE). Patients with diabetes mellitus were not included. The serum TRX concentrations (mean +/- SD ng/ml) were significantly higher in SMOKING (41+/-10), HT (41+/-17), HC (48+/-15) and MULTIPLE (46+/-15) than in CONTROL (24+/-11). The serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations (mg/g lipids) were not significantly different among CONTROL (4.0+/-0.7), SMOKING (4.0+/-0.8), HT (4.1+/-0.6) and HC (4.2+/-0.6), although the concentration was significantly lower in MULTIPLE (3.3+/-0.7) than in any of the other study groups.


CONCLUSIONS
SMOKING, HT, HC and MULTIPLE had significantly higher serum TRX concentrations than CONTROL, suggesting increased oxidative stress. MULTIPLE had a lower serum concentration of antioxidant alpha-tocopherol than any of the other study groups, suggesting impaired or exhausted defense against chronic oxidative stress in the presence of the multiple risk factors.
Miwa
Kunihisa
K
Division of Medicine, Hamamatsu Rosai Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan. ku-miwa@hamamatsuh.rofuku.go.jp
Kishimoto
Chiharu
C
Nakamura
Hajime
H
Makita
Toshinori
T
Ishii
Katsuhisa
K
Okuda
Nobuaki
N
Yodoi
Junji
J
Sasayama
Shigetake
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D013879:Thioredoxins / Q000097:blood*; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D013879:Thioredoxins; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol