Assessment of thiol/disulphide homoeostasis and ischaemia-modified albumin and their relationship with disease severity in children with chronic urticaria

Abstract

Background

The pathogenesis chronic urticaria (CU) hasn't been fully understood. In recent years, it has been shown that thiol-disulphide homoeostasis, as an antioxidant system, plays important roles in both healthy individuals and various diseases. In different ischaemia-reperfusion states, high oxidative stress causes ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) generation.

Aim

To investigate thiol/disulphide balance and IMA level in children with CU and their association with disease severity.

Methods

Thirty children with CU and 20 healthy children as controls, aged 1–18 years, were included in this cross-sectional study. In all subjects, total thiol, native thiol, disulphide levels and IMA levels were measured in plasma by spectrophotometry. Disulphide/native thiol, disulphide/total thiol and native thiol/total thiol ratios were calculated. The disease severity was rated by Urticaria Activity Score (UAS).

Results

In the children with CU, the levels of native thiol (375.56 ± 56.22 μmol/L) and total thiol (415.69 ± 54.75 μmol/L) were significantly lower than the control group (475.20 ± 71.87 and 511.20 ± 73.73 μmol/L, respectively) (p = 0.000, p = 0.000). The ratio of native/total thiol * 100 was lower in patients than the control group (p = 0.002). IMA was significantly higher in the patient group than control group (p = 0.000). No significant correlation was found between UAS and thiol/disulphide homoeostasis (p > 0.05). The disulphide levels, disulphide/native thiol and disulphide/total thiol levels were found to be higher in patients with positive family history for autoimmune disorders than those without (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

In children with CU, impaired thiol/disulphide homoeostasis and increased IMA suggest that oxidative stress may play role in the disease pathogenesis.

Keywords:

• Children
• ischaemia-modified albumin
• chronic urticarial
• oxidative stress
• thiol-disulphide homeostasis
• urticaria activity score

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).