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Oxidative stress and its determinants in the airways of children with asthma

R Dut1, E A Dizdar, E Birben

  • 1Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Pediatric Allergy and Asthma Unit, AnkaraTurkey.

Allergy
|November 27, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Childhood asthma significantly increases airway oxidative stress, indicated by higher malondialdehyde and lower glutathione levels. This oxidant/antioxidant imbalance is linked to asthma itself, not severity or specific antioxidant gene variants.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Biochemistry
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Systemic oxidative stress is well-documented in childhood asthma.
  • Limited data exists on airway-specific oxidant stress in pediatric asthma.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify airway oxidant/antioxidant imbalance in asthmatic children.
  • To identify determinants of this imbalance, including asthma severity and antioxidant enzyme genotypes.

Main Methods:

  • Collected exhaled breath condensate (EBC) from 110 mild asthmatics, 30 moderate asthmatics, and 191 healthy controls.
  • Measured malondialdehyde (oxidative stress marker) and reduced glutathione (antioxidant marker) in EBC.
  • Genotyped glutathione S transferase (GST) T1, GSTM1, and GSTP1 variants; analyzed risk factors using logistic regression.

Main Results:

  • Asthmatic children exhibited significantly higher EBC malondialdehyde and lower reduced glutathione compared to controls (P < 0.001).
  • No significant difference in oxidant/antioxidant markers was found between mild and moderate asthma groups.
  • Asthma was the sole independent predictor of oxidative stress; antioxidant genotypes did not influence the oxidative burden.

Conclusions:

  • Childhood asthma is strongly associated with significant airway oxidative stress.
  • This oxidant burden is a characteristic of asthma, independent of disease severity or specific antioxidant gene variations.
Abstract

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