Relation between homocysteine, folate, vitamin B12 and MTHFR C677T polymorphism and bone turnover markers in postmenopausal women

To investigate the association between total Homocysteine [tHcy] levels with bone turnover markers and lumbar spine BMD, and to study the influences of MTHFR genotypes and B-vitamins on tHcy and BMD in a group of Egyptian postmenopausal women. 66 Egyptian postmenopausal women were subjected to clinical assessment and lumbar spine BMD measurement. Venous blood samples were collected to measure the levels of plasma tHcy, plasma folate, vitamin B12, osteocalcin, serum cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen [S-CTX] and the MTHFR C677T genotyping. According to the T-score, the participants were divided into three groups: normal [N], osteopenic [OPN] and osteoporotic [OPR]. tHcy levels were statistically significantly higher, and serum folate levels statistically significantly lower in the OPR group compared to the other two groups. Nonsignificant differences between the three groups regarding vitamin B12 levels and percentage of the 3 MTHFR genotypes were found. Osteocalcin and the S-CTX levels were statistically significantly higher in the OPR group than the other two groups. BMD was statistically significantly positively correlated with folate and negatively correlated with tHcy, Osteocalcin and S-CTX, while was nonsignificantly correlated with vitamin B12 levels. tHcy was statistically significantly negatively correlated with folate and positively correlated with Osteocalcin and S-CTX, while was nonsignificantly correlated with vitamin B12. The MTHFR genotype groups were not associated with the BMD, tHcy, folate or vitamin B12 levels. In postmenopausal women, tHcy and folate could be related to lumbar spine BMD while vitamin B12 and the MTHFR genotypes seem not to have relation to BMD

Anti-Nucleosome antibodies as a diagnostic tool in systemic lupus erythematosus and marker of lupus nephritis

To evaluate the prevalence of anti-nucleosome antibodies [anti-NCS Abs] in systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], their role in diagnosis, disease activity and lupus nephritis [LN]. The study was conducted on 23 SLE female patients. They were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of LN. Ten apparently healthy individuals served as a control group. Clinical assessment was done to all patients especially for renal affection. Disease activity was scored with SLEDAI. Anti-NCS and anti-dsDNA antibodies were measured with ELISA. Renal biopsy was performed for patients with LN. The prevalence of anti-NCS Abs was [78.3%] and anti-dsDNA Abs was [56.5%] in SLE. Seventeen patients presented with LN and 6patients without. Among these patients, the prevalence of anti-NCS Abs and anti-dsDNA Abs were [88%-64.7%] and [50%-33.3%] respectively. Anti-NCS Abs were found to be positive in 21.7% of SLE patients lacking anti-dsDNA Abs. The mean anti-NCS and anti-dsDNA Abs tiler in SLE was 250.60 +/- 207.00 and 443.3 +/- 714.3 respectively, showing a highly significant increase compared with healthy controls [12.3 +/- 4.54 and 31.0 +/- 20.11] [p<0.001]. Moreover, in LN and those without LN, the mean anti-NCS Abs showed a highly significant increase [331.41 +/- 179. 73 and 21.67 +/- 8.36] [p<0.001], while there was a significant increase in the mean of anti-ds DNA Abs [574.71 +/- 794.07 and 71.17 +/- 46.99] [p<0.05] respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of anti-NCS Abs in SLE were 82.6% and 100% and in LN were 88.2% and 100% respectively. Anti-NCS Abs showed a positive significant correlation with ESR [r=0.900], SLEDAI [r=0.761] and anti-dsDNA Abs [r=0.681] in LN, but showed a negative significant correlation with disease duration [r=-0.511] and C4 [r=-0.650] in patients without LN. In LN 7 patients hadproliferative glomerular lesion [WHO class III], 6 patients class IV and 4 patients class II on renal biopsy. They were associated with a statistically significant proteinuria, anti-ds DNA and anti-NCS especially in classes II and IV, Anti-NCS Abs could be a useful parameter for diagnosis and assessment of disease activity and LN in SLE, It seems to be a more sensitive marker of SLE than anti-ds DNA especially in patients who are anti-dsDNA antibody negative