Serum hepcidin level and disease course of acute leukemia in children

Acute leukemia [AL] is a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic neoplasms and it is the most common childhood malignancy. Many patients with AL develop severe anemia that requires multiple blood transfusions. Hepcidin expression may play a role in anemia which is often seen in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of hepcidin in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children in Egypt. 60 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL] and 20 age and gender matched healthy children, taken as control group, were included in the study. Complete blood count [CBC], Serum ALT and serum AST were measured by colorimetric methods. Serum hepcidin and ferritin were measured by ELISA. The study showed a significant difference between newly diagnosed ALL cases and other groups regarding all CBC parameters. There was a significant difference in serum levels of hepcidin and ferritin between studied groups. A significant negative correlation was found between serum level of hepcidin and ferritin and each of hemoglobin level and reticulocytic count%, while significant positive correlation was found between hepcidin and ferritin serum levels. From this study, it could be concluded that serum hepcidin level is elevated in ALL children patients at time of diagnosis and correlates with the disease extent. Hepcidin may be one of the serum markers that accounting for anemia associated with ALL in children

Study of malondialdhyde, glutathione and superoxide dismutase in mild and severe preeclamptic womens

The cause of preeclampsia remains largely unknown, but oxidative stress and a generalized inflammatory state are features of the maternal syndrome. The aim of this work is to determine the role of free radicals and antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. This study was carried out on 65 females: 50 preeclamptic [25 mild preeclampsia and 25 severe preeclampsia] patients and 15 healthy normotensive pregnant females as control. All subjects were submitted to full history taking, general clinical examination, laboratory investigations including, measurements of plasma superoxide dismutase [SOD], erythrocyte glutathione [GSH], plasma malondialdehyde [MDA], serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, serum HDLc,serum LDLc, and total proteins in urine. The study showed that SOD [p<0.001], GSH [p<0.001] and HDLc [p<0.001] levels are significantly lower in preeclampsia cases than control, while MDA [p<0.001], TG [p<0.001] and LDLc [p<0.001] levels are significantly higher in preeclampsia cases than control. There is no significant difference between control group and preeclampsia cases as regards to total cholesterol [p<0.05]. There is significant negative correlation between HDLc and MDA [p<0.05] in preeclampsia cases. It could be concluded be that hyperlipidemia, elevated lipid peroxides and decreased antioxidant capacity might be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia