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**2** 

*2UK* 

**Homocysteine is Elevated in COPD** 

, Maria Rios1 and J. A. Wedzicha2 *1Department of Clinical Medical Sciences,* 

*2The Medical Schools of University College and The Royal Free Hospitals, London* 

*The University of the West Indies* 

*1Trinidad and Tobago* 

Terence Seemungal1,

in the urine of some children with mental retardation.

the explosion of articles containing homocysteine as keyword.

Homocysteine was first described by Butz and du Vigneaud in 1932 (Butz 1932). An association between elevated homocysteine levels and human disease was first suggested in 1962 by Carson and Neil (Carson 1962). They had found high homocysteine concentrations

In 2000, Yi and Melnyk found that plasma total homocysteine is positively associated with parallel increases in plasma S-adenosylhomocysteine and concentrations and lymphocyte DNA hypomethylation. This lead Medina and Urdiales (2001) to speculate on an indirect mechanism for homocysteine pathogenicity secondary to inhibition of DNA methytransferase and that is the disruption of DNA methylation patterns leading to alterations in gene expression which may be of significance in chronic diseases many of which are associated with elevation in homocysteine. Elevated plasma homocysteine has been associated with neural tube defects, cognitive impairment in the elderly, psoriasis and some tumours (Refsum 1998). Hyperhomocysteinaemia has also been associated with cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, venous thrombosis, diabetes mellitus and renal failure (Okuyan et al, 2010; Refsum et al, 1998; Givvimani et al, 2011; Kim et al, 2011; Hankey & Eikelboom, 1999; Dominguez et al, 2010; Wile et al, 2010; Austen et al, 2003). Plasma HCY has also been related to clinical outcome in acute respiratory diseases (Tsangaris et al, 2009). This widespread involvement of homocysteine in disease explains the current interest of both basic and clinical biomedical scientists in this amino acid and thus

There has hitherto not been much interest in homocysteine disorders in respiratory disease. Sanguinetti was one of the first researchers to postulate that there was an imbalance between redox reactions in COPD (Sanguinetti 1993). In an elegant series of experiments, Rahman et al showed that reduced glutathione was depleted by exposure to cigarette smoke in alveolar epithelial cells (Rahman et al 1995). Further work by this group revealed that there is loss of antioxidant capacity in COPD relative to healthy non-smokers (Rahman et al

**1. Introduction** 

 

Corresponding Author

