Relationship between oxidative stress and inflammation in hyperuricemia : Analysis based on asymptomatic young patients with primary hyperuricemia

Abstract

The average age of hyperuricemia patients has gradually decreased, but young patients with primary hyperuricemia often do not exhibit clinical symptoms and have not received sufficient attention. However, a lack of symptoms with primary hyperuricemia does not mean that high serum uric acid (UA) levels cannot lead to pathological effects, such as oxidative stress and inflammation, and the specific damage is still unclear. We aimed to determine the relationship between oxidative stress and inflammation to explore the possible role of pathological damage in asymptomatic young patients with primary hyperuricemia.

A total of 333 participants were enrolled in our study: 158 asymptomatic young patients with primary hyperuricemia and 175 healthy persons from a health check-up population. Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and general biochemical markers were measured.

We found no differences in biochemical markers (fasting glucose, TG, TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, SCr, BUN, AST, and ALT) between the patients and healthy persons. Subsequent analyses of oxidative stress and inflammation revealed that the serum levels of MDA, IL-6, and TNF-α in the patients were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group ( P < .001), and the SOD activity was significantly lower ( P < .001). As the UA levels increased, MDA increased significantly and SOD decreased significantly; likewise, IL-6 and TNF-α increased significantly as the UA level increased. MDA showed a significant positive correlation with IL-6 (r = 0.367, P < .001) and TNF-α (r = 0.319, P < .001), and SOD was negatively correlated with IL-6 (r = −0.241, P < .01) and TNF-α (r = −0.308, P < .001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that UA (OR: 2.379, 95% CI: 1.698–3.286, P < .001; OR: 3.261, 95% CI: 1.729–3.857, P < .001; for IL-6 and TNF-α, respectively) and MDA (OR: 1.836, 95% CI: 1.283–2.517, P < .01; OR: 2.532, 95% CI: 1.693–3.102, P < .001; for IL-6 and TNF-α, respectively) were risk factors for high IL-6 and TNF-α and that SOD (OR: 0.517, 95% CI: 0.428–0.763, P < .01; OR: 0.603, 95% CI: 0.415–0.699, P < .001; for IL-6 and TNF-α, respectively) was a protective factor.

In our study, some abnormal pathological effects were found in asymptomatic young patients with hyperuricemia, suggesting that in young hyperuricemia patients, oxidative stress, inflammation and the inflammatory response may be related to the oxidative stress induced by UA. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the pathological damage caused by these alterations.