Evaluation of Tryptophan/Kynurenine Pathway Relevance With Immune System Biomarkers of Low Energy Trauma Hip Fractures in Osteoporotic Patients
Ercan DİNÇEL1, Yeşim ÖZKAN2, Murat ŞÜKÜROĞLU3, Hakan ÖZSOY1, Aylin SEPİCİ DİNÇEL4
1Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University of Health Sciences, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
2Department of Biochemistry, University of Gazi, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara, Turkey
3Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Gazi, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara, Turkey
4Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Gazi, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Bone regeneration; indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase; kynurenine; osteoporosis; tryptophan
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate tryptophan degradation and clarify whether altered levels of kynurenine and tryptophan (Kyn/Trp) ratio could be correlated to osteoporotic hip fractures via immune system.
Patients and methods: The study included 60 patients with osteoporotic hip fracture (20 males, 40 females, mean age 76.6±6.9 years; range 59 to 95 years). Patients were divided into two as patients with collum femoris fractures (group 1; n=23) and intertrochanteric fractures (group 2; n=37). Fifteen healthy subjects without any fracture were selected as control group (group 3; 3 males, 12 females; mean age 69.7±8.4; range 60 to 86 years). All fractures were simple falls due to low energy trauma. Bone mineral density measurements were performed with Lunar dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Kyn/Trp levels were measured by high performance liquid chromatography. Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1 beta levels were measured with solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: All bone mineral density values were in agreement for osteoporosis and there was no significant difference between the two groups. Higher Kyn/Trp ratios were observed in groups 1 and 2 compared to group 3. This difference was more significant in group 1 (p=0.0001) than that in group 2 (p=0.048). Also, group 1 had significantly higher Kyn/Trp ratio than group 2 (p=0.011). There were significantly higher IL-6 and lower IL-1 beta levels both in groups 1 and 2 compared to group 3 (p=0.0001). There was no significant difference between group 1 and group 2 in terms of IL-6 and IL-1 beta levels. There was positive correlation with Kyn/Trp ratio (r=0.581, p=0.004) in group 2. Also, significant correlation was detected between IL-6 and IL-1 beta levels in the same group (r=0.665, p=0.036).
Conclusion: Both increased degradation of tryptophan and ratio of Kyn/Trp indicate the relationship of immune activation with bone healing.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.