Ischemia-modified albumin and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer has become a public health problem in many countries and there is evidence which indicates that inflammation and oxidative stress play a key role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the concentrations of new biomarkers of oxidative stress, ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), as well as the inflammatory markers in patients with prostate cancer. METHODS: CRP, IMA, FRAP, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, creatinine, albumin, AST, ALT, ADA, total PSA (tPSA), free PSA, and proportion of free PSA (fPSA%) were measured in 25 patients with prostate cancer and in 30 healthy subjects. RESULTS: tPSA, CRP, and IMA were significantly higher in patients with prostate cancer. In contrast, fPSA% and FRAP were significantly lower in these patients. However, no significant differences were observed when IMA values were adjusted for serum albumin. Significant correlations were also observed for tPSA and CRP (r = 0.5104, p < 0.001) and for fPSA% and CRP (r = -0.5059, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that both inflammatory and oxidative processes are increased during prostate cancer and also that there is a reduction of antioxidant defenses in this pathology.

Ischemia modified albumin and carbonyl protein as potential biomarkers of protein oxidation in hemodialysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of HD on ischemia modified albumin (IMA) and protein carbonyl groups in order to investigate the role of IMA as a marker of protein oxidation. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was conducted with 23 chronic hemodialysis patients. The serum IMA levels and protein carbonyl groups were measured immediately before hemodialysis (pre-HD) and after the end of hemodialysis (post-HD). RESULTS: IMA concentrations were significantly higher in post-HD than those of the pre-HD and carbonyl protein concentrations were higher in post-HD in comparison with pre-HD. A significant correlation was observed between IMA and carbonyl protein levels. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of IMA levels and protein carbonyl groups post-HD could be attributed to the increase of oxidative stress associated with HD, and IMA appears to be an important biomarker for assessing protein oxidation after HD.