title: Can protein carbonyl/glutathione ratio be used as a potential biomarker to assess oxidative stress in alcoholic hepatitis?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was undertaken to evaluate the significance of protein carbonyl/glutathione ratio as a biomarker to assess the oxidative stress in alcoholic hepatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 30 patients with alcoholic hepatitis and 30 age-sex- matched controls. Protein carbonyl (PCO) levels was estimated by modified levine's method, malondialdehyde (MDA) by thiobarbituric acid method, reduced glutathione (GSH) by dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid method, total sialic acid (TSA) by modified aminoff's method, plasma transferases (GGT, AST, and ALT), total protein and albumin using commercial kits adapted to autoanalyzer respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  All data were expressed as mean ± SEM. Spearman's correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve were performed using SPSS version 16 for Microsoft. A P value < 0.05 was considered as significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alcoholic hepatitis patients showed significantly higher levels of PCO, MDA, GGT, AST, AST/ALT, TSA, and significantly lower GSH, total protein and albumin levels. PCO/GSH ratio in these patients showed a significant positive correlation with GGT (r = 0.594, P = 0.000), AST/ALT (r = 0.443 P = 0.000), MDA (r = 0.727, P = 0.000), TSA (r = 0.729, P = 0.000), and a significant negative correlation with total protein (r = -0.683, P = 0.000) and albumin (r = -0.544, P = 0.000). ROC curve showed a cut off value of 2.735, indicating 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity of PCO/GSH at this value.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alcohol intake regularly for long duration leads to oxidative stress. We suggest that PCO/GSH ratio can be used as a potential biomarker to assess oxidative stress in alcoholic hepatitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Ramalingam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sripradha
authors.forename: Magadi Gopalakrishna
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sridhar
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005978:Glutathione / Q000097:blood*; D006519:Hepatitis, Alcoholic / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D050050:Protein Carbonylation / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005978:Glutathione