Increased oxidative stress in patients with essential thrombocythemia

BACKGROUND: Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a clonal disease in which thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications are common. Our aim in this study was to investigate whether oxidative stress in ET patients increased compared to healthy volunteers and to investigate whether there is a relationship between vascular events and oxidative status parameters in ET patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We determined the serum levels of oxidative status parameters, such as total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS), oxidative stress index (OSI) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in ET patients. Forty-three ET patients (20 males, 23 females) and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Oxidative status parameters of the patients were compared with those of the controls at time of diagnosis and at 6th-month follow-up. Additionally, oxidative status parameters of patients with ET with a history of vascular event were compared with patients without a vascular event history during diagnosis. RESULTS: Rises in TOS, OSI, and MDA were statistically significant in the patients group; however, the TAS value was significantly lower compared to the control group. Furthermore, TOS was significantly higher in patients with history of vascular event compared to the patients without such a history. Following therapy, OSI and MDA values were significantly reduced in the patient group compared to the pre-treatment values. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal that although oxidative stress parameters were increased, compensative total antioxidant status was significantly reduced in ET patients. Furthermore, TOS values were significantly high in patients with a history of vascular event.