Common and Novel Markers for Measuring Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Ex Vivo in Research and Clinical Practice—Which to Use Regarding Disease Outcomes?

Abstract

Many chronic conditions such as cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type-2 diabetes, obesity, peripheral/coronary artery disease and auto-immune diseases are associated with low-grade inflammation. Closely related to inflammation is oxidative stress (OS), which can be either causal or secondary to inflammation. While a low level of OS is physiological, chronically increased OS is deleterious. Therefore, valid biomarkers of these signalling pathways may enable detection and following progression of OS/inflammation as well as to evaluate treatment efficacy. Such biomarkers should be stable and obtainable through non-invasive methods and their determination should be affordable and easy. The most frequently used inflammatory markers include acute-phase proteins, essentially CRP, serum amyloid A, fibrinogen and procalcitonin, and cytokines, predominantly TNFα, interleukins 1β, 6, 8, 10 and 12 and their receptors and IFNγ. Some cytokines appear to be disease-specific. Conversely, OS—being ubiquitous—and its biomarkers appear less disease or tissue-specific. These include lipid peroxidation products, e.g., F2-isoprostanes and malondialdehyde, DNA breakdown products (e.g., 8-OH-dG), protein adducts (e.g., carbonylated proteins), or antioxidant status. More novel markers include also –omics related ones, as well as non-invasive, questionnaire-based measures, such as the dietary inflammatory-index (DII), but their link to biological responses may be variable. Nevertheless, many of these markers have been clearly related to a number of diseases. However, their use in clinical practice is often limited, due to lacking analytical or clinical validation, or technical challenges. In this review, we strive to highlight frequently employed and useful markers of inflammation-related OS, including novel promising markers.

Oxidative Dysregulation in Early Life Stress and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Comprehensive Review

“…Another indirect way of measuring OXS utilizes the evaluation of markers of oxidative damage by assessing lipid peroxidation, protein, and DNA oxidation products. In particular, lipid peroxidation is assessed through HNE, malondialdehyde (MDA), isoprostanes, thromboxane B2 (TXB2), and thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) levels [99]. Protein and DNA oxidation are assessed through protein carbonyls, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-DG), and 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OH-G) levels, respectively [99].…”

“…In particular, lipid peroxidation is assessed through HNE, malondialdehyde (MDA), isoprostanes, thromboxane B2 (TXB2), and thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) levels [99]. Protein and DNA oxidation are assessed through protein carbonyls, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-DG), and 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OH-G) levels, respectively [99]. Finally, both measurement of telomere length and DNA methylation age constitute important indirect indexes of OXS and cellular senescence, based on the knowledge that the latter can accelerate epigenetic aging [100][101][102].…”

Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in the Relationship between Type 2 Diabetes and Air Pollution

“…A number of different biomarkers related to oxidative stress and inflammation can be tested in the relationship between T2D and pollution. Some of them are, for example, C reactive protein, serum amyloid A, fibrinogen, cytokines (TNFα, interleukins), F2-isoprostanes, malondialdehyde, DNA breakdown products such as 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, advanced glycation end products, carbonylated proteins, and antioxidants or the total antioxidant status [ 74 ]. However, for most of these oxidative stress/inflammatory-related biomarkers and their methods of measurement, there are limitations that make routine use difficult, in particular the lack of analytical/clinical validation and technical challenges [ 75 ].…”

Synthetic Retinoids as Potential Therapeutics in Prostate Cancer—An Update of the Last Decade of Research: A Review

“…The pathway involving p53 showed to be crucial for its action. Additionally, phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX; a marker of double-strand DNA breakage [ 78 ]) was elevated after adarotene treatment. Finally, adarotene targeted and eliminated cancer stem cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner in sub-µM concentrations (0.01 µM) in the sphere formation assay [ 49 ].…”