Gender difference in glyoxalase 1 activity of atherosclerotic carotid artery lesions.
OBJECTIVE
Age and gender are two factors that determine the risk of atherosclerosis. The latter effect is only partly understood. Dicarbonyls, in particular methylglyoxal, participate in the development of atherosclerosis, and their major detoxification route is the enzyme glyoxalase 1 (GLO1), which is known to decrease during aging.


METHODS
GLO1 expression and activity were studied in atherosclerotic carotid artery lesions of 71 patients with respect to demographic and clinical characteristics.


RESULTS
GLO1 activity was nonsignificantly reduced by >50% in individuals with carotid artery disease compared with control individuals. There was no significant difference in GLO1 expression between the groups; however, the GLO1 activity-to-protein ratio showed a significant reduction for the carotid artery disease patients compared with the controls. The reduction in the GLO1 activity-to-protein ratio was more pronounced in men and was associated with increased inflammation shown by a significant elevation in the expression-level of interleukin-1β.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that GLO1 is regulated on the post-translational level by factors such as gender as well as factors that affect the overall burden of atherosclerosis.
Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: andreas1.peters@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
Andreas S
AS
Peters
Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Maani
M
Hakimi
Department of Medicine I and Clinical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Spiros
S
Vittas
Department of Medicine I and Clinical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Thomas H
TH
Fleming
Department of Medicine I and Clinical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Peter P
PP
Nawroth
Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Dittmar
D
Böckler
Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Susanne
S
Dihlmann
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000378:metabolism*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007791:Lactoylglutathione Lyase / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors
D053583:Interleukin-1beta; C000597196:GLO1 protein, human; D007791:Lactoylglutathione Lyase