Context: Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD).
Aim: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the significance of protein carbonyl/glutathione ratio as a biomarker to assess the oxidative stress in alcoholic hepatitis.
Settings and design: The study included 30 patients with alcoholic hepatitis and 30 age-sex- matched controls. Protein carbonyl (PCO) levels was estimated by modified levine's method, malondialdehyde (MDA) by thiobarbituric acid method, reduced glutathione (GSH) by dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid method, total sialic acid (TSA) by modified aminoff's method, plasma transferases (GGT, AST, and ALT), total protein and albumin using commercial kits adapted to autoanalyzer respectively.
Statistical analysis used: All data were expressed as mean ± SEM. Spearman's correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve were performed using SPSS version 16 for Microsoft. A P value < 0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: Alcoholic hepatitis patients showed significantly higher levels of PCO, MDA, GGT, AST, AST/ALT, TSA, and significantly lower GSH, total protein and albumin levels. PCO/GSH ratio in these patients showed a significant positive correlation with GGT (r = 0.594, P = 0.000), AST/ALT (r = 0.443 P = 0.000), MDA (r = 0.727, P = 0.000), TSA (r = 0.729, P = 0.000), and a significant negative correlation with total protein (r = -0.683, P = 0.000) and albumin (r = -0.544, P = 0.000). ROC curve showed a cut off value of 2.735, indicating 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity of PCO/GSH at this value.
Conclusions: Alcohol intake regularly for long duration leads to oxidative stress. We suggest that PCO/GSH ratio can be used as a potential biomarker to assess oxidative stress in alcoholic hepatitis.