مختصر البحث:
Background
Patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) are vulnerable to neurotoxicity due to frequent blood transfusions and the subsequent iron overload (IO) and inflammation. As a result, affective (depression and anxiety) and chronic …
Background
Patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) are vulnerable to neurotoxicity due to frequent blood transfusions and the subsequent iron overload (IO) and inflammation. As a result, affective (depression and anxiety) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) symptoms may develop. Aims: To investigate the potential association between TDT and neuronal injury, as assessed with serum concentrations of neuronal damage biomarkers, including neurofilament light (NFL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and nestin. Methods: We investigated the associations between those CNS injury biomarkers, neuro-immune markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10), calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc, and the Fibro-Fatigue (FF), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) scores in 126 children with TDT and 41 healthy children.
Results
TDT children show significant increases in IO, FF, CDI, and SCAS scores, serum NSE, GFAP, NF-L, CRP, copper, IL-6, and IL-10, and lowered magnesium, zinc, and calcium as compared with healthy children. There were significant correlations between the CDI score and NFL, NSE and GFAP; SCAS score and NFL, and FF score and NFL and GFAP. The neuronal damage biomarkers (except nestin) were significantly associated with inflammatory, erythron (hematocrit and hemoglobin) and IO (iron and ferritin) biomarkers.
Conclusions
TDT is characterized by intertwined increases in neuronal injury biomarkers and neuropsychiatric symptoms suggesting that TDT-associated neurotoxicity plays a role.
