Selected articles Decemeber 2014:

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The redoxome – a complicated system that can react in unexpected ways

Intricacies of Redoxome Function Demonstrated with a Simple In vitro Chemiluminescence Method, with Special Reference to Vitamin B12 as Antioxidant

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Bøyum, R. J. Forstrøm, I. Sefland, K. L. Sand andH. B. Benestad

 

In this publication, the authors examine if a simple, in vitro chemiluminiscence set-up with redox components from human polymorphonuclerar neutrophils (PMN) and red blood cells (RBC) can clarify some unexplained workings of the redoxome. The authors present proof-of-principle evidence that the assay can assess redox effects, and demonstrate the intricacies of redox reactions.

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The redox potential is determined by an interacting system of redox enzymes and sulfhydryl proteins, as well as their substrates: smaller molecules such as NADPH/NADP and superoxide – they all together constitute the redoxome.

The redoxome can be said to ”buffer” a cell´s electrochemical (redox) potential similarly to how buffering of pH is important for the function of enzymes and other cellular constituents.

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Arne Bøyum, MD, is a senior investigator, 86 years old, and the first author of the paper. He designed the experiments and did most of the laboratory work.

– It was a pleasure, at my age, to find unexpected, or unforeseeable responses that might be of value in further work, he says.

One of the surprising findings was that calproctin and its component peptides A8 and A9 make up a surprisingly high concentration in PMN. Several functions have been ascribed to these proteins but rarely redox functions.

After a series of various dose-response experiments, utilizing their chemiluminescence assays and different reactants, the authors suggest that the redoxome is a complicated system that can react in unexpected ways. This makes it very difficult to foresee the results of perturbations in the intact organism and they describe prescriptions of antioxidants to an intact organism as ”risky business”.

 

 

 

On chemokine-levels in children with type 1 diabetes

 

Systemic Levels of CCL2, CCL3, CCL4 and CXCL8 Differ According to Age, Time Period and Season among Children Newly Diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes and their Healthy Siblings

 

S. U. Thorsen, S. Eising, H. B. Mortensen, K. Skogstrand, F. Pociot, J. Johannesen, J. Svensson and on behalf of the Danish Childhood Diabetes Registry

 

 

In a study performed by researchers at Copenhagen University levels of cytokines is found to differ according to age, time period and season among children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and their healthy siblings. T1D is a T cell-driven autoimmune disease caused by a lack of tolerance towards beta cells in the pancreas. Auto-reactive T cells migrate to the islets of Langerhans where they destroy the beta cells. However the mechanism by which these T-cells migrate to the islets is not very well known, but studies have shown a role of chemokines in the pathogenesis of T1D. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate the role of inflammatory chemokines in T1D at time of diagnosis. The hypothesis was that systemic levels of inflammatory chemokines in patients with recent onset T1D is different from their health siblings and that gender, age, time period, season and autoantibody status influences the chemokine levels.

 

– However, we found very few differences in levels of the chosen chemokines between cases and controls, says Steffen Thorsen, first author of the paper. But we saw that levels of chemokines vary with season, period and age.

 

Steffen Thorsen was responsible for the analysis and the interpretation of the data in the article. The data was derived from a population-based register of children with T1D, the Danish Diabetes Register. It contains information on more than 3500 newly diagnosed patients aged 0-15 years with an associated biobank with blood samples from the children and their first-degree relatives.

 

From this study it becomes clear that it is important to match or adjust for especially season and period when conducting new studies concerning chemokine levels in children and adolescents.