doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.571919
(Circulation. 2005;112:2078-2080.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.
Editorial |
Gamma-Glutamyltransferase, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Disease
Triggering Oxidative Stress Within the Plaque
From the Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (CNR), Pisa, Italy (M.E.), and the Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy (A.P., A.P.).
Correspondence to Michele Emdin, MD, PhD, Cardiovascular Medicine Dept, Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (CNR), Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy. E-mail emdin@ifc.cnr.it
Key Words: Editorials • antioxidants • atherosclerosis • epidemiology • free radicals
An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract. |
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Introduction |
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The serum determination of gamma-glutamyltransferase (
-GT) activity is a low-cost, highly sensitive and accurate, and frequently used laboratory test. Although it is considered to be an index of hepatobiliary dysfunction and alcohol abuse,1 recent epidemiology and pathology studies have suggested its independent role in the pathogenesis and clinical evolution of cardiovascular diseases brought on by atherosclerosis.1,2
Article p 2130
The prospective study by Ruttman and colleagues in 163 944 Austrian adults studied for 17 years shows that -GT is independently associated with cardiovascular mortality.3 Serum -GT activity had a prognostic impact on fatal events of chronic forms of coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, and ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. This was found to be true in both sexes, with a clear dose-response relationship, and with a stronger prognostic significance of -GT in younger participants.
These findings from a large unselected cohort unequivocally confirm previous observations that -GT is associated with overall mortality and cardiovascular events, in both unselected populations4–7 and patients with ascertained coronary artery disease, independent of all confounders including liver function and alcohol use.8,9
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Well-Known Versus "Unknown" -Glutamyltransferase
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-GT is the enzyme responsible for the extracellular catabolism of glutathione (GSH, -glutamyl-cisteinyl-glycine), the main thiol intracellular antioxidant agent in mammalian cells.1 It is present, linked through a small lipophilic sequence of its larger subunit, on the cell surface membrane of most cell types; although the same protein is produced in all tissues, differences in the sugar moieties allow that only the liver -GT is detectable in serum.10 Most serum -GT is bound This article has been cited by other articles:
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 D.-H. Lee, M. D. Gross, M. W. Steffes, and D. R. Jacobs Jr Is Serum Gamma-Glutamyltransferase a Biomarker of Xenobiotics, Which Are Conjugated by Glutathione? Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, April 1, 2008; 28(4): e26 - e28. [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. Fraser, R. Harris, N. Sattar, S. Ebrahim, G. D. Smith, and D.A. Lawlor Gamma-Glutamyltransferase Is Associated With Incident Vascular Events Independently of Alcohol Intake: Analysis of the British Women's Heart and Health Study and Meta-Analysis Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, December 1, 2007; 27(12): 2729 - 2735. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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S. M. Grundy Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase: Another Biomarker for Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Risk Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, January 1, 2007; 27(1): 4 - 7. [Full Text] [PDF]
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 P. Giral, V. Ratziu, J. C. Chapman, E. Ruttmann, H. Ulmer, L. J. Brant, H. Concin, G. Diem, and K. Rapp Letter Regarding Article by Ruttmann et al, "{gamma}-Glutamyltransferase as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: An Epidemiological Investigation in a Cohort of 163 944 Austrian Adults" Circulation, February 28, 2006; 113(8): e299 - e300. [Full Text] [PDF]
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