BACKGROUND Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic connective tissue disease. In this study, we compared the serum Homocystein (Hcy) level between patients with SSc and normal control group. OBJECTIVES The current study was conducted to determine whether serum Hcy levels are elevated in SSc patients and whether there is any correlation between Hcy levels and RP, Gastro intestinal and lung invo...

BACKGROUND: There is accumulated evidence that plasma concentration of the sulfur-containing amino-acid homocysteine (Hcy) is a prognostic marker for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Both fasting levels of Hcy and post methionine loading levels are used as prognostic markers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the existence of a daily rhythm in plasma Hcy under strictly cont...

BACKGROUND Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) is an independent risk factor for liver diseases, such as fatty liver and hepatic fibrosis. However, the mechanisms underlying this pro-oxidative effect of homocysteine (Hcy) in hepatocytes remain largely unknown. Thus, we investigated the effect of Hcy on the gene expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), the primary rate-limiting enzyme in heme catabolism a...

Homocysteine (Hcy), an immediate precursor of methionine (Met), is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and neural tube defects. Hcy concentration is also reported to correlate positively with the micronucleus index in lymphocytes in vivo, a marker of chromosome damage. However, it is unclear whether Hcy is genotoxic or simply a biomarker of folate deficiency...

To the Editor: The article by Doshi et al in the January 1/8, 2002, issue of Circulation,1 in which the authors suggest that folic acid improves endothelial function by a mechanism largely independent of homocysteine (Hcy), prompted us to report our data on plasma Hcy levels before and after intravenous prostaglandin (PG) E1 -cyclodextrin in patients with systemic sclerosis. Ten patients with s...

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. As an inflammatory molecule, C-reactive protein (CRP) plays a direct role in atherogenesis. It is known that the elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) level is an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. We previously reported that Hcy produces a pro-inflammatory effect by inducing CRP expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). In the presen...

In 1969, McCully reported an association between homocystinuria, a rare metabolic disorder characterized by high blood levels ( 100 mol/L) of the amino acid homocysteine (Hcy), and severe atherosclerosis among postmortem subjects.1 His report is widely recognized as the basis for the “homocysteine hypothesis,” namely, that elevated blood Hcy is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Si...

Hyperhomocysteinemia decreases vascular reactivity and is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, pathogenic mechanisms that increase oxidative stress by homocysteine (Hcy) are unsubstantiated. The aim of this study was to examine the molecular mechanism by which Hcy triggers oxidative stress and reduces bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) in cardiac microvascular endo...

The aim of this study was to examine whether serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels correlated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) depending on the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Korean men. We conducted a case-control study, including 138 CVD and 290 non-CVD age-matched control subjects. The subjects were divided into four subgroups: 34 CVD/MetS, 104 CVD, 77 MetS, and 213 normal su...

Elevated levels of homocysteinemia (Hcy), a risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), have been associated with changes in cell methylation. Alzheimer's disease is characterized by an upregulation of the 5-lipoxygenase (5LO), whose promoter is regulated by methylation. However, whether Hcy activates 5LO enzymatic pathway by influencing the methylation status of its promoter remains u...