Assessment of Serum Homocysteine, Endothelin-1 and Nitric Oxide Levelsin Behçet`s Disease
Journal of Pan-Arab League of Dermatologists
Vol. 19, No. 3, October 2008 Page 53- 60
Assessment of Serum Homocysteine, Endothelin-1 and Nitric Oxide Levels
in Behçet`s Disease
Abeer Hodeib, Tarek El-Sharawy* and Hisham Fawzi**
Departments of Dermatology and Venereology, Internal Medicine*, Tanta University, and Clinical Pathology**,
Al-Azhar University, Egypt
Abstract
Background: One of the prominent features of Behçet disease (BD) is arterial and venous thromboses as a result of endothelial dysfunction. Hyperhomocysteinaemia is responsible for vascular endothelial injury that increased frequency of thrombogenesis. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a vasoconstricting while nitric oxide (NO) is endothelial vasorelaxing peptide, responsible for inhibition of platelet adhesion.
Aim: To evaluate serum level of homocysteine (Hcy) and whether hyperhomocysteinemia is considerd a contributing risk factor to venous and arterial thromboses of BD, to correlate serum levels of ET-1 and NO with disease activity.
Methods: We measured serum levels of Hcy and ET-1 by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and serum nitrite (NO2-) by Griess reaction as indicators for NO production, in 25 patients with BD, satisfying the criteria of the International Study Group for BD, and compared them with 15 healthy control subjects. All the patients were screened for a history of venous thrombosis and subdivided into thrombotic and non-thrombotic subgroups according to their thrombotic history. Patients with BD were divided into two subgroup, active and inactive according to clinical and laboratory findings.
Results: There are significant increase in serum levels of Hcy, ET-1 and nitrite in patients compared to those in controls. There is a significant increase in serum Hcy in thrombotic compared to non-thrombotic subgroups. Positive correlations between the serum ET-1 and serum nitrite with disease activity were detected in BD patients.
Conclusions: Hyperhomocysteinemia may play some role in the development of venous and arterial thromboses in BD. Increased NO production might have critical biological activities relevant to pathologic events in the active period of the disease.
Journal of Pan-Arab League of Dermatologists
Vol. 19, No. 3, October 2008 Page 53- 60
Assessment of Serum Homocysteine, Endothelin-1 and Nitric Oxide Levels
in Behçet`s Disease
Abeer Hodeib, Tarek El-Sharawy* and Hisham Fawzi**
Departments of Dermatology and Venereology, Internal Medicine*, Tanta University, and Clinical Pathology**,
Al-Azhar University, Egypt
Abstract
Background: One of the prominent features of Behçet disease (BD) is arterial and venous thromboses as a result of endothelial dysfunction. Hyperhomocysteinaemia is responsible for vascular endothelial injury that increased frequency of thrombogenesis. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a vasoconstricting while nitric oxide (NO) is endothelial vasorelaxing peptide, responsible for inhibition of platelet adhesion.
Aim: To evaluate serum level of homocysteine (Hcy) and whether hyperhomocysteinemia is considerd a contributing risk factor to venous and arterial thromboses of BD, to correlate serum levels of ET-1 and NO with disease activity.
Methods: We measured serum levels of Hcy and ET-1 by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and serum nitrite (NO2-) by Griess reaction as indicators for NO production, in 25 patients with BD, satisfying the criteria of the International Study Group for BD, and compared them with 15 healthy control subjects. All the patients were screened for a history of venous thrombosis and subdivided into thrombotic and non-thrombotic subgroups according to their thrombotic history. Patients with BD were divided into two subgroup, active and inactive according to clinical and laboratory findings.
Results: There are significant increase in serum levels of Hcy, ET-1 and nitrite in patients compared to those in controls. There is a significant increase in serum Hcy in thrombotic compared to non-thrombotic subgroups. Positive correlations between the serum ET-1 and serum nitrite with disease activity were detected in BD patients.
Conclusions: Hyperhomocysteinemia may play some role in the development of venous and arterial thromboses in BD. Increased NO production might have critical biological activities relevant to pathologic events in the active period of the disease.