Relationship of Oxidative Stress in Uncontrolled Asthma: A Prospective Study

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate markers of oxidative stress in Tunisian asthmatics patients and to investigate whether their markers are correlated with uncontrolled asthma.

Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted on 48 healthy subjects and 60 patients with asthma (34 patients with controlled asthma and 26 patients with uncontrolled asthma). The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and glutathione (GSH), as well as the activities of Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD), were estimated in plasma by spectrophotometry.

Results: Asthmatics patients have significantly high plasmatic levels of MDA and AOPP as compared with the healthy controls (p<0.001). Lower GSH level and GPx activity were found in patients with asthma by comparison to controls (p<0.001). In contrast, higher SOD activity was also noted in asthmatics patients (p<0.001).

The comparison among the patients with controlled asthma and uncontrolled asthma ones revealed higher MDA and AOPP levels (p<0.001); and decreased GSH level and GPx and SOD activities in patients with no-controlled asthma (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Asthmatic patients especially the case of uncontrolled asthma suffer a high degree of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation causing considerable oxidative stress that is indicated by the high level of oxidants (MDA and AOPP) and low level of antioxidants.