Protein N-homocysteinylation involves a post-translational modification by homocysteine (Hcy)-thiolactone. In humans, about 70% of circulating Hcy is N-linked to blood proteins, mostly to hemoglobin and albumin. It was unclear what protein site(s) were prone to Hcy attachment and how N-linked Hcy affected protein function. Here we show that Lys(525) is a predominant site of N-homocysteinylation...

Elevated homocysteine (HCY) and smoking are both important risk factors for hypertensive patients. However, whether they have crossing effect on renal function deterioration of hypertensive patients and what is the underlying mechanism are unclear. In the present study, 3033 participants diagnosed as essential hypertension with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)> 30 ml/min/1.73 m2 from...

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide (NO) plays a relevant role in various events during atherogenesis. In vitro data suggest that NO may modulate homocysteine (Hcy) concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) -786T>C, 894G>T, and 4a4b polymorphisms in influencing Hcy concentrations. METHODS Blood samples were obtained from 1287 unrelated p...

Homocysteine (Hcy) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) are major chemokines for leukocyte trafficking and have been identified in atheromatous plaques. MCP-1 and IL-8 have been found to express mainly by macrophages in human lesion. We undertook this study to determine whether Hcy could induce the secretio...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect exerted by low-density lipoprotein (LDL) modified by homocysteine (Hcy)-thiolactone (Hcy-LDL) on functional properties on human endothelial cells. Hcy-thiolactone, a reactive product formed in human cells from enzymatic conversion of Hcy, was hypothesized to play an important role in Hcy-induced vascular damages. Using endothelial cultu...

BACKGROUND Controversial results on hyperhomocysteinemia and cardiovascular risk in hemodialysis (HD) could be due in part to the methodology used for homocysteine (Hcy) determination. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the influence of the method used for Hcy determination (chromatography or immunoassay) with regard to the association of Hcy with cardiovascular mortality rate in ...

It has been hypothesized that elevated plasma Homocysteine (Hcy) plays a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-related cognitive decline. The mechanism of Hcy neurotoxicity in the brain is controversial as well Hcy is a ligand of NMDA receptor. Memantine, an uncompetitive antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors approved for the treatment of moderate to severe ...

Homocysteine (Hcy) is a sulfur-containing non-proteinogenic amino acid derived in methionine metabolism. The increased level of Hcy in plasma, hyperhomocysteinemia, is considered to be an independent risk factor for cardio and cerebrovascular diseases. However, it is still not clear if Hcy is a marker or a causative agent of diseases. More and more research data suggest that Hcy is an important...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the joint effects of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes in the folic acid pathway on homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism. METHODS Four hundred women with normal pregnancies were enrolled in this study. SNPs were identified by MassARRAY. Serum folic acid and Hcy concentration were measured. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and support vector machine (SVM) regres...

Although a modest homocysteine (Hcy) elevation is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk, the underlying mechanisms whereby Hcy triggers the accumulation of cholesterol and the roles of the extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) in the development of foam cells have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we found both increased numbers of foam cells and an accumulation of choles...