Protein Carbonyl as a Biomarker of Oxidative Stress in Severe Leptospirosis, and Its Usefulness in Differentiating Leptospirosis from Dengue Infections

• Published in: PloS one 2016-06, Vol.11 (6), p.e0156085-e0156085
• Main Authors: Fernando, Narmada, Wickremesinghe, Shalini, Niloofa, Roshan, Rodrigo, Chaturaka, Karunanayake, Lilani, de Silva, H Janaka, Wickremesinghe, A R, Premawansa, Sunil, Rajapakse, Senaka, Handunnetti, Shiroma M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Adult; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - metabolism; Bilirubin; Biochemistry; Bioindicators; Biological markers; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - blood; Biotechnology; Carbonyls; Case-Control Studies; Cytokines; Damage assessment; Damage detection; Dengue; Dengue - blood; Dengue - diagnosis; Dengue - virology; Dengue fever; Dengue Virus - isolation & purification; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Disease; Disease control; Epidemics; Fatty acids; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Immune response; Infections; Laboratories; Leptospira; Leptospira - isolation & purification; Leptospirosis; Leptospirosis - blood; Leptospirosis - diagnosis; Leptospirosis - microbiology; Lipid peroxidation; Lipids; Male; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Molecular biology; Mortality; Nitrates; Nitric oxide; Oxidation; Oxidative Stress; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Patients; Physical Sciences; Protein Carbonylation; Proteins; Risk factors; Sepsis; Serum proteins; Tropical diseases; Uric acid; Vector-borne diseases; Viral diseases; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156085

Pathogenesis of disease severity in leptospirosis is not clearly understood whether it is due to direct damage by pathogen or by adverse immune responses. Knowledge on biomarkers of oxidative stress which could be used in identifying patients with severe illness has shown to be of great value in disease management. Thus, the main aim of this study was to assess the damage to serum proteins and lipids, and their significance as biomarkers of oxidative stress in severe leptospirosis. In regions endemic for both leptospirosis and dengue, leptospirosis cases are often misdiagnosed as dengue during dengue epidemics. Therefore, the second aim was to assess the potential of the oxidative stress markers in differentiating severe leptospirosis from critical phase dengue. We measured serum antioxidants (uric acid and bilirubin), total antioxidant capacity (AOC), protein carbonyl (PC) and lipid hydroperoxide (LP) in patients with severe leptospirosis (n = 60), mild leptospirosis (n = 50), dengue during the critical phase (n = 30) and in healthy subjects (n = 30). All patient groups had similar total antioxidant capacity levels. However, the presence of significantly high uric acid and total bilirubin levels may reflect the degree of renal and hepatic involvement seen in severe leptospirosis patients (p