The important role of oxidative stress to the development of systemic sclerosis or scleroderma

Hello
Long time I have not post.This is because I try to search for the interested research, which involves the relationship between antioxidant and scleroderma. The research I found last night belongs to Iwata and colleagues about “Autoantibody against peroxiredoxin I, an antioxidant enzyme, in patients with systemic sclerosis: possible association with oxidative stress”.

This research confirms the important role of oxidative stress to the development of systemic sclerosis or scleroderma. As I inform you in the first post that the oxidative stress in living cells leads to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The organisms have the defense mechanisms against ROS via antioxidant enzymes. The important one is peroxiredoxin (Prx) which has peroxidase activity to reduce hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrate, and organic hydroperoxides. Among the various isoforms of Prx, the Prx-I involves directly to autoantibodies possession called anti-Prx I Ab in scleroderma and other autoimmune disorder.

The research hypothesis is the anti- Prx I Ab could be detected in patients with scleroderma and contribute to enhanced oxidative stress by inhibiting Prx-I enzymatic activity. The detection of the anti- Prx I Ab may indicated the possible relationship between scleroderma and oxidative stress. Finally, they found that the anti- Prx I Ab may enhance the oxidative stress by inhibiting Prx-I antioxidant enzymatic activity.

That means for scleroderma patients, the important antioxidant enzymes, especially peroxiredoxin I, may inactivated by autoantibodies possession. And that is why I try to activate the antioxidant activities of my mom by using antioxidant treatment.