Methods: The first group of patients included 6 male and 8 female subjects with severe persistent asthma, having a mean age of 42.4 years. A second group of subjects consisted of 14 newly diagnosed allergic asthma patients with a mean age of 43.8 years. All patients were followed in our clinic, and were evaluated by clinical status. A third group of 14 age-sex matched healthy controls were also included. Serum samples were collected and stored at -70° until use for the determination of total antioxidant capacity, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde and total nitric oxide concentrations. Serum IgE levels, ANA, RF, hepatitis markers, C3, C4 and eosinophil levels were evaluated in all patients. All assays were carried out in duplicate.
Results: Total antioxidant capacity levels of Group IB, group II and group III were lower than the IA group. Total antioxidant capacity levels of groups II and III were higher than in group IB. Hydrogen peroxide concentrations in group IB were lower than in group IA, while concentrations in group II were higher than in group IB. The malondialdehyde concentration of group IB was lower than in all other groups. The malondialdehyde concentration of group III was higher than all other groups. The malondialdehyde concentration of group II was lower than in group III. The total nitric oxide level of group IB was lower than all other groups. The total nitric oxide level of group III was higher than all other groups, while that of group II was higher than for both groups IA/IB.
Conclusions: To monitor the omalizumab treatment efficacy in the severe allergic asthma patients; total antioxidant capacity, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde and total nitric oxide concentrations might be new markers.