Neopterin, inflammation, and oxidative stress: What could we be missing?

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Journal Article
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Language
English
Date
2018
Authors
Gieseg SP
Baxter-Parker G
Lindsay A
Abstract

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Neopterin has been extensively used as a clinical marker of immune activation during inflammation in a wide range of conditions and stresses. However, the analysis of neopterin alone neglects the cellular reactions that generate it in response to interferon-γ. Neopterin is the oxidation product of 7,8-dihydroneopterin, which is a potent antioxidant generated by interferon-γ-activated macrophages. 7,8-Dihydroneopterin can protect macrophage cells from a range of oxidants through a scavenging reaction that generates either neopterin or dihydroxanthopterin, depending on the oxidant. Therefore, plasma and urinary neopterin levels are dependent on both macrophage activation to generate 7,8-dihydroneopterin and subsequent oxidation to neopterin. This relationship is clearly shown in studies of exercise and impact-induced injury during intense contact sport. Here, we argue that neopterin and total neopterin, which is the combined value of 7,8-dihydroneopterin and neopterin, could provide a more comprehensive analysis of clinical inflammation than neopterin alone.

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neopterin, inflammation, 7,8-dihydroneopterin, reactive-oxygen species, antioxidant
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ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::32 - Biomedical and clinical sciences::3205 - Medical biochemistry and metabolomics::320599 - Medical biochemistry and metabolomics not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research::32 - Biomedical and clinical sciences::3204 - Immunology::320405 - Humoural immunology and immunochemistry
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© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).