Ischemia modified albumin: a useful marker for increased oxidative stress in Beh？et’s disease

Background Increased oxidant stress play an important role in pathogenesis of Beh？et’s disease (BD). It needs to be clearly defined by using a sensitive marker. Objective We sought to investigate usefulness of ischemia modified albumin (IMA) to show increased oxidative stress in patients with BD and its value considering the disease activity. Methods The sera from BD patients (n=57) and healthy individuals (n=45) were collected. IMA, serum total antioxidative capacity (TAC) and total oxidant status (TOS) were measured using Erel’s automated method, and the percentage ratio of total peroksit level to TAC level was considered the oxidative stress index (OSI). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed for all markers. Results IMA, TAC, TOS, OSI, C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels were found to be significantly higher in patients with BD than those in controls. IMA was the only marker which showed difference between active and inactive periods, and it had higher area under curve (AUC) value than those for other markers in ROC analysis (p=0.004). IMA also showed significant correlations with CRP, both in all BD patients and those in active period (r=0.50, p<0.01; r =0.54, p<0.005, respectively). Conclusions IMA showed superiority to other markers such as TAC, TOS or OSI to evaluate oxidative stress in BD patients as well as in considering disease activity. The higher serum level of IMA and its relationship with CRP observed in active period of BD indicate that IMA may be a useful marker for monitoring disease activity