ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is a pathophysiological state that arises due to an imbalance created between ROS generation and the antioxidant potential of the host cell. Transfusion- dependent beta-thalassemia major patients are at high risk of cellular and molecular damages induced by ROS mainly due to iron overload caused by repetitive blood transfusion. OBJECTIVES: To analyze oxidative stress status levels in ß-thalassemia patients. To analyze the expression profile of enzymatic (NOS2, OGG1, HuR, SOD2) and non-enzymatic (VDR) redox regulators in ß-thalassemia patients. To assess polymorphism in VDR (rs2228570) and NOS2 (rs944725) in ß-thalassemia patients. To analyze serum vitamin D levels of ß-TM patients compared to healthy individuals. METHODS: The present case-control study aimed to identify Vitamin D levels in the serum of ß-thalassemia patients and compared it with healthy subjects. The study further analyzed VDR FOKI (rs2228570) polymorphism through ARMS-PCR. Expression profiling of VDR, anti-oxidant enzyme (SOD2 and GPx), and their respective regulator (HuR and NrF2) transcripts was done by the 2-ΔΔCt method. RESULTS: The study reports that there is no a significant difference between the Vitamin D levels among healthy and patients. VDR polymorphism analysis (rs2228570) demonstrates that although the C allele is prevalent in the study cohort, the frequency of the T allele is comparatively higher in ß-thalassemia patients as compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, patients express lower levels of anti-oxidant enzymes despite having increased oxidative stress. CONCLUSION: The study reports that ß-thalassemia patients are at higher risk of cellular and molecular damages induced by oxidative stress and their associated pathologies inefficient enzymatic and non-enzymatic anti-oxidant defense systems.
