Urinary Biomarkers as a Proxy for Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome Patient Follow-Up

Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) is a rare genetic disorder of the autonomic nervous system and in particular of the respiratory control during sleep. No drug therapy is, to date, available; therefore, the survival of these patients depends on lifelong ventilatory support during sleep. Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced oxidative stress is a recognized risk factor involved in the pathogenesis of several chronic diseases. Therefore, monitoring systemic oxidative stress could provide important insights into CCHS outcomes. Because ROS-induced oxidative products are excreted as stable metabolites in urine, we performed an HPLC-MS/MS analysis for the quantitative determination of the three main representative oxidative biomarkers (i.e., diY, MDA, and 8-OHdG) in the urine of CCHS patients. Higher levels of urinary MDA were found in CCHS patients compared with age-matched control subjects. The noteworthy finding is the identification of urinary MDA as relevant biomarker of systemic oxidative status in CCHS patients. This study is a concise and smart communication about the impact that oxidative stress has in CCHS, and suggests the monitoring of urinary MDA levels as a useful tool for the management of these patients.