title: Erythrocyte glutathione transferase: a non-antibody biomarker for systemic sclerosis, which correlates with severity and activity of the disease.
abstract: Erythrocyte glutathione transferase (e-GST) is a detoxifying enzyme hyper-expressed in nephropathic patients and used recently as a biomarker for blood toxicity. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by endothelial dysfunction and fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Renal involvement is frequent in SSc patients. Here we show that e-GST is hyper-expressed in SSc patients (n = 102) and correlates (R(2) = 0.49, P < 0.0001) with the Medsger DSS and DAI Valentini indices that quantify the severity and activity of this disease. Interestingly, e-GST does not correlate with the impairment of kidney or other specific organs taken separately. e-GST hyper-expression seems to be linked to the presence of a factor (i.e., toxin) that triggers the autoimmune disease, and not to the damage of specific organs or to oxidative stress. e-GST may be proposed as an innovative non-antibody biomarker for SSc useful to check the progress of this disease and the efficiency of new therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fabrini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gigante
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bocedi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cianci
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barbano
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Del Grosso
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zingaretti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Salsano
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ricci
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005982:Glutathione Transferase