Oxidized LDL antibodies (OLAB) in patients with beta-thalassemia major

Thalassemic (TM) patients are subjected to peroxidative tissue injury because of continuous blood transfusions. It has been documented that circulating LDL from TM patients show marked oxidative modification, that could represent an event leading to atherogenesis. We investigated in 75 beta-TM patients the levels of oxidized LDL antibody (OLAB) to asses their correlation with total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides Apo A-1 and Apo B. OLAB/mg chol-LDL is greater in TM patients than healthy controls (p<0.001). No correlation was found between OLAB and age, sex of patients, mean blood consumption, mean serum ferritin, mean transaminases, PT, PTT, and fibrinogen. A significant positive correlation was found between OLAB and triglycerides in TM patients (p<0.001). Also a significant correlation was found between OLAB/mg chol-LDL and level of triglycerides in TM patients, but not with total cholesterol, LDL and HDL chols, Apo A-1 and Apo B. On the contrary in the healthy controls this correlation between OLAB and OLAB/mg chol-LDL versus triglycerides was negative and not significant. High levels of OLAB/mg chol-LDL in patients with beta-thalassemia, in absence of evident signs of atherosclerosis, suggest some regulatory mechanisms on the lipid peroxidation which modulate the deposition of ox-LDL in the macrophages and support the hypothesis that both serum iron and triglycerides are involved in the pathogenesis of LDL oxidation.