A Second Look at the Transthyretin Nutrition Inflammatory Conundrum
Author and Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP, Clinical Pathologist, Biochemist, and Transfusion Physician
Brief introduction
Transthyretin (also known as prealbumin) has been widely used as a biomarker for identifying protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and for monitoring the improvement of nutritional status after implementing a nutritional intervention by enteral feeding or by parenteral infusion. This has occurred because transthyretin (TTR) has a rapid removal from the circulation in 48 hours and it is readily measured by immunometric assay. Nevertheless, concerns have been raised about the use of TTR in the ICU setting, which prompted a review of the benefit of using this test in acute and chronic care. TTR is easily followed in the underweight and the high risk populations in an ambulatory setting, which has a significant background risk of chronic diseases. It is sensitive to the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and needs to be understood in the context of acute illness to be used effectively. There are a number of physiologic changes associated with SIRS and the injury/repair process that affect TTR. The most important point is that in the context of an ICU setting, the contribution of TTR is significant in a complex milieu. A much better understanding of the significance of this program has emerged from studies of nitrogen and sulfur in health and disease.
Transthyretin protein structure (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Age-standardised disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates from Protein-energy malnutrition by country (per 100,000 inhabitants). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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– The systemic inflammatory response syndrome C-reactive protein and transthyretin conundrum.
Larry H Bernstein
Clin Chem Lab Med 2007; 45(11):0
ICID: 939932
Article type: Editorial
The Transthyretin Inflammatory State Conundrum
Larry H. Bernstein
Current Nutrition & Food Science, 2012, 8, 00-00
Keywords: Tranthyretin (TTR), systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), C- reactive protein, cytokines, hypermetabolism, catabolism, repair.
Transthyretin has been widely used as a biomarker for identifying protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and for monitoring the improvement of nutritional status after implementing a nutritional intervention by enteral feeding or by parenteral infusion. This has occurred because transthyretin (TTR) has a rapid removal from the circulation in 48 hours and it is readily measured by immunometric assay. Nevertheless, concerns have been raised about the use of TTR in the ICU setting, which prompts a review of the actual benefit of using this test in a number of settings. TTR is easily followed in the underweight and the high risk populations in an ambulatory setting, which has a significant background risk of chronic diseases. It is sensitive to the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and needs to be understood in the context of acute illness to be used effectively.
There are a number of physiologic changes associated with SIRS and the injury/repair process that affect TTR and in the context of an ICU setting, the contribution of TTR is essential. The only consideration is the timing of initiation since the metabolic burden is sufficiently high that a substantial elevation is expected in the first 3 days post admission, although the level of this biomarker is related to the severity of injury. Despite the complexity of the situation, TTR is not to be considered a test “for all seasons”. In the context of age, prolonged poor meal intake, chronic or acute illness, TTR needs to be viewed in a multivariable lens, along with estimated lean body mass, C-reactive protein, the absolute lymphocyte count, presence of neutrophilia, and perhaps procalcitonin if there is remaining uncertainty. Furthermore, the reduction of risk of associated complication requires a systematized approach to timely identification, communication, and implementation of a suitable treatment plan.
The most important point is that in the context of an ICU setting, the contribution of TTR is significant in a complex milieu.
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Title: The Automated Malnutrition Assessment
Accepted 29 April 2012. http://www.nutritionjrnl.com. Nutrition (2012), doi:10.1016/j.nut.2012.04.017.
Authors: Gil David, PhD; Larry Howard Bernstein, MD; Ronald R Coifman, PhD
Article Type: Original Article
Keywords: Network Algorithm; unsupervised classification; malnutrition screening; protein energy malnutrition (PEM); malnutrition risk; characteristic metric; characteristic profile; data characterization; non-linear differential diagnosis
We have proposed an automated nutritional assessment (ANA) algorithm that provides a method for malnutrition risk prediction with high accuracy and reliability. The problem of rapidly identifying risk and severity of malnutrition is crucial for minimizing medical and surgical complications. These are not easily performed or adequately expedited. We characterized for each patient a unique profile and mapped similar patients into a classification. We also found that the laboratory parameters were sufficient for the automated risk prediction.
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Title: The Increasing Role for the Laboratory in Nutritional Assessment
Article Type: Editorial
Section/Category: Clinical Investigation
Accepted 22 May 2012. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/clinbiochem.
Clin Biochem (2012), doi:10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2012.05.024
Keywords: Protein Energy Malnutrition; Nutritional Screening; Laboratory Testing
Author: Dr. Larry Howard Bernstein, MD
The laboratory role in nutritional management of the patient has seen remarkable growth while there have been dramatic changes in technology over the last 25 years, and it is bound to be transformative in the near term. This editorial is an overview of the importance of the laboratory as an active participant in nutritional care.
The discipline emerged divergently along separate paths with unrelated knowledge domains in physiological chemistry, pathology, microbiology, immunology and blood cell recognition, and then cross-linked emerging into clinical biochemistry, hematology-oncology, infectious diseases, toxicology and therapeutics, genetics, pharmacogenomics, translational genomics and clinical diagnostics.
In reality, the more we learn about nutrition, the more we uncover of metabolic diversity of individuals, the family, and societies in adapting and living in many unique environments and the basic reactions, controls, and responses to illness. This course links metabolism to genomics and individual diversity through metabolomics, which will be enlightened by chemical and bioenergetic insights into biology and translated into laboratory profiling.
Vitamin deficiencies were discovered as clinical entities with observed features as a result of industrialization (rickets and vitamin D deficiency) and mercantile trade (scurvy and vitamin C)[2]. Advances in chemistry led to the isolation of each deficient “substance”. In some cases, a deficiency of a vitamin and what is later known as an “endocrine hormone” later have confusing distinctions (vitamin D, and islet cell insulin).
The accurate measurement and roles of trace elements, enzymes, and pharmacologic agents was to follow within the next two decades with introduction of atomic absorption, kinetic spectrophotometers, column chromatography and gel electrophoresis. We had fully automated laboratories by the late 1960s, and over the next ten years basic organ panels became routine. This was a game changer.
Today child malnutrition prevalence is 7 percent of children under the age of 5 in China, 28 percent in sub-Saharan African, and 43 percent in India, while under-nutrition is found mostly in rural areas with 10 percent of villages and districts accounting for 27-28 percent of all Indian underweight children. This may not be surprising, but it is associated with stunting and wasting, and it has not receded with India’s economic growth. It might go unnoticed viewed alongside a growing concurrent problem of worldwide obesity.
The post WWII images of holocaust survivors awakened sensitivity to nutritional deprivation.
In the medical literature, Studley [HO Studley. Percentage of weight loss. Basic Indicator of surgical risk in patients with chronic peptic ulcer. JAMA 1936; 106(6):458-460. doi:10.1001/jama.1936.02770060032009] reported the association between weight loss and poor surgical outcomes in 1936. Ingenbleek et al [Y Ingenbleek, M De Vissher, PH De Nayer. Measurement of prealbumin as index of protein-calorie malnutrition. Lancet 1972; 300[7768]: 106-109] first reported that prealbumin (transthyretin, TTR) is a biomarker for malnutrition after finding very low TTR levels in African children with Kwashiorkor in 1972, which went unnoticed for years. This coincided with the demonstration by Stanley Dudrick [JA Sanchez, JM Daly. Stanley Dudrick, MD. A Paradigm Shift. Arch Surg. 2010; 145(6):512-514] that beagle puppies fed totally through a catheter inserted into the superior vena cava grew, which method was then extended to feeding children with short gut. Soon after Bistrian and Blackburn [BR Bistrian, GL Blackburn, E Hallowell, et al. Protein status of general surgical patients. JAMA 1974; 230:858; BR Bistrian, GL Blackburn, J Vitale, et al. Prevalence of malnutrition in general medicine patients, JAMA, 1976, 235:1567] showed that malnourished hospitalized medical and surgical patients have increased length of stay, increased morbidity, such as wound dehiscence and wound infection, and increased postoperative mortality, later supported by many studies.
Michael Meguid,MD, PhD, founding editor of Nutrition [Elsevier] held a nutrition conference “Skeleton in the Closet – 20 years later” in Los Angeles in 1995, at which a Beckman Prealbumin Roundtable was held, with Thomas Baumgartner and Michael M Meguid as key participants. A key finding was that to realize the expected benefits of a nutritional screening and monitoring program requires laboratory support. A Ross Roundtable, chaired by Dr. Lawrence Kaplan, resulted in the first Standard of Laboratory Practice Document of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemists on the use of the clinical laboratory in nutritional support and monitoring. Mears then showed a real benefit to a laboratory interactive program in nutrition screening based on TTR [E Mears. Outcomes of continuous process improvement of a nutritional care program incorporating serum prealbumin measurements. Nutrition 1996; 12 (7/8): 479-484].
A later Ross Roundtable on Quality in Nutritional Care included a study of nutrition screening and time to dietitian intervention organized by Brugler and Di Prinzio that showed a decreased length of hospital stay with $1 million savings in the first year (which repeated), which included reduced cost for dietitian evaluations and lower complication rates.
Presentations were made at the 1st International Transthyretin Congress in Strasbourg, France by Mears [E Mears. The role of visceral protein markers in protein calorie malnutrition. Clin Chem Lab Med 2002; 40:1360-1369] on the impact of TTR in screening for PEM in a public hospital in Louisiana, and by Potter [MA Potter, G Luxton. Prealbumin measurement as a screening tool for patients with protein calorie malnutrition in emergency hospital admissions: a pilot study. Clin Invest Med. 1999; 22(2):44-52] that indicated a 17% in-hospital mortality rate in a Canadian hospital for patients with PCM compared with 4% without PCM (p < 0.02), while only 42% of patients with PCM received nutritional supplementation. Cost analysis of screening with prealbumin level projected a saving of $414 per patient screened. Ingenbleek and Young [Y Ingenbleek, VR Young. Significance of transthyretin in protein metabolism. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2002; 40(12):1281–1291. ISSN (Print) 1434-6621, DOI: 10.1515/ CCLM.2002.222, December 2002. published online: 01/06/2005] tied the TTR to basic effects reflected in protein metabolism.
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– Transthyretin as a marker to predict outcome in critically ill patients.
Arun Devakonda, Liziamma George, Suhail Raoof, Adebayo Esan, Anthony Saleh, Larry H Bernstein
Clin Biochem 2008; 41(14-15):1126-1130
ICID: 939927
Article type: Original article
TTR levels correlate with patient outcomes and are an accurate predictor of patient recovery in non-critically ill patients, but it is uncertain whether or not TTR level correlates with level of nutrition support and outcome in critically ill patients. This issue has been addressed only in critically ill patients on total parenteral nutrition and there was no association reported with standard outcome measures. We revisit this in all patients admitted to a medical intensive care unit.
Serum TTR was measured on the day of admission, day 3 and day 7 of their ICU stay. APACHE II and SOFA score was assessed on the day of admission. A registered dietician for their entire ICU stay assessed the nutritional status and nutritional requirement. Patients were divided into three groups based on initial TTR level and the outcome analysis was performed for APACHE II score, SOFA score, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, and mortality.
TTR showed excellent concordance with the univariate or multivariate classification of patients with PEM or at high malnutrition risk, and followed for seven days in the ICU, it is a measure of the metabolic burden. TTR levels decline from day 1 to day 7 in spite of providing nutritional support. Twenty-five patients had an initial TTR serum concentration more than 17 mg/dL (group 1), forty-eight patients had mild malnutrition with a concentration between 10 and 17 mg/dL (group 2), Forty-five patients had severe malnutrition with a concentration less than 10 mg/dL (group 3). Initial TTR level had inverse correlation with ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, and APACHE II score, SOFA score; and predicted mortality, especially in group 3.
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– A simplified nutrition screen for hospitalized patients using readily available laboratory and patient
information.
Linda Brugler, Ana K Stankovic, Madeleine Schlefer, Larry Bernstein
Nutrition 2005; 21(6):650-658
ICID: 825623
Article type: Review article
– The role of visceral protein markers in protein calorie malnutrition.
Linda Brugler, Ana Stankovic, Larry Bernstein, Frederick Scott, Julie O’Sullivan-Maillet
Clin Chem Lab Med 2002; 40(12):1360-1369
ICID: 636207
Article type: Original article
The Automated Nutrition Score is a data-driven extension of continuous quality improvement.
Larry H Bernstein
Nutrition 2009; 25(3):316-317
ICID: 939934
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– Transthyretin: its response to malnutrition and stress injury. clinical usefulness and economic implications.
LH Bernstein, Y Ingenbleek
Clin Chem Lab Med 2002; 40(12):1344-1348
ICID: 636205
Article type: Original article
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THE NUTRITIONALLY-DEPENDENT ADAPTIVE DICHOTOMY (NDAD) AND STRESS HYPERMETABOLISM
Yves Ingenbleek MD PhD and Larry Bernstein MD
J CLIN LIGAND ASSAY (out of print)
The acute reaction to stress is characterized by major metabolic, endocrine and immune alterations. According to classical descriptions, these changes clinically present as a succession of 3 adaptive steps – ebb phase, catabolic flow phase, and anabolic flow phase. The ebb phase, shock and resuscitation, is immediate, lasts several hours, and is characterized by hypokinesis, hypothermia, hemodynamic instability and reduced basal metabolic rate. The catabolic flow phase, beginning within 24 hours and lasting several days, is characterized by catabolism with the flow of gluconeogenic substrates and ketone bodies in response to the acute injury. The magnitude of the response depends on the acuity and the severity of the stress. The last, a reparative anabolic flow phase, lasts weeks and is characterized by the accretion of amino acids (AAs) to rebuilding lean body mass.
The current opinion is that the body economy is reset during the course of stress at novel thresholds of metabolic priorities. This is exemplified mainly by proteolysis of muscle, by an effect on proliferating gut mucosa and lymphoid tissue as substrates are channeled to support wound healing, by altered syntheses of liver proteins with preferential production of acute phase proteins (APPs) and local repair in inflamed tissues (3). The first two stages demonstrate body protein breakdown exceeding the rate of protein synthesis, resulting in a negative nitrogen (N) balance, muscle wasting and weight loss. In contrast, the last stage displays reversed patterns, implying progressive recovery of endogenous N pools and body weight.
These adaptive alterations undergo continuing elucidation. The identification of cytokines, secreted by activated macrophages/monocytes or other reacting cells, has provided further insights into the molecular mechanisms controlling energy expenditure, redistribution of protein pools, reprioritization of syntheses and secretory processes.
The free fraction of hormones bound to specific binding-protein(s) [BP(s)] manifests biological activities, and any change in the BP blood level modifies the effect of the hormone on the end target organ. The efficacy of these adaptive responses may be severely impaired in protein-energy malnourished (PEM) patients. This is especially critical with respect to changes of the circulating levels of transthyretin (TTR), retinol-binding protein (RBP) and corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) conveying thyroid hormones (TH), retinol and cortisol, respectively. This reaction is characterized by cytokine mediated autocrine, paracrine and endocrine changes. Among the many inducing molecules identified, interleukins 1 and 6 (Il-1, Il-6) and tumor necrosis factor a (TNF) are associated with enhanced production of 3 counterregulatory hormonal families (cortisol, catecholamines and glucagon). Growth hormone (GH) and TH also have roles in these metabolic adjustments.
There is overproduction of cortisol mediated by several cytokines acting on both the adrenal cortex (10) and on the pituitary through hypothalamic CRH with loss of feedback regulation of ACTH production (11). Hypercortisolemia is a major finding observed after surgery (12), sepsis (13), and medical insults, usually correlated with severity of insult and of complications. Rising cortisol values parallel hyperglycemic trends, as an effect of both gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance. Working in concert with TNF, glucocorticoids govern the breakdown of muscle mass, which is regarded as the main factor responsible for the negative N balance.
Under normal conditions, GH exerts both lipolytic and anabolic influences in the whole body economy under the dual control of the hypothalamic hormones somatocrinin (GHRH) and somatostatin (SRIH). GH secretion is usually depressed by rising blood concentrations of glucose and free fatty acids (FFAs) but is paradoxicaly elevated despite hyperglycemia in stressed patients.
The oversecretion of counterregulatory hormones working in concert generates subtle equilibria between glycogenolytic/glycolytic/gluconeogenic adaptive processes. The net result is the neutralization of the main hypoglycemic and anabolic activities of insulin and the development of a persisting and controlled hyperglycemic tone in the stressed body. The molecular mechanisms whereby insulin resistance occurs in the course of stress refer to
cytokine- and hormone-induced phosphorylation abnormalities affecting receptor signaling. The insulin-like anabolic processes of GH are mediated by IGF1 working as relay agent. The expected high IGF1 surge associated with GH oversecretion is not observed in severe stress as plasma values are usually found at the lower limit of normal or even in the subnormal range. The end result of this dissociation between high GH and low IGF1 levels is to favor the proteolysis of muscle mass to release AAs for gluconeogenesis and the breakdown of adipose tissue to provide ketogenic substrates.
The acute stage of stress is associated with the onset of a low T3 syndrome typically delineated by the drop of both total (TT3) and free (FT3) triiodothyronine plasma levels in the subnormal range. In contrast, both total (TT4) and free (FT4) thyroxine values usually remain within normal ranges with declining trends observed for TT4 and rising tendencies for FT4 (44). This last free compound is regarded as the sensor reflecting the actual thyroid status and governing the release of TSH whereas FT3 works as the active hormonal mediator at nuclear receptor level. The maintenance of an euthyroid sick syndrome is compatible with the down-regulation of most metabolic and energetic processes in healthy tissues. These inhibitory effects , negatively affecting all functional steps of the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid axis concern TSH production, iodide uptake, transport and organification into iodotyrosyl residues, peroxidase coupling activity as well as thyroglobulin synthesis and TH leakage. Taken together, the above-mentioned data indicate that the development of hyperglycemia and of insulin-resistance in healthy tissues – mainly in the muscle mass – are hallmarks resulting from the coordinated activities of the counterregulatory hormones.
A growing body of recent data suggest that the stressed territory, whatever the causal agent – bacterial or viral sepsis, auto-immune disorder, traumatic or toxic shock, burns, cancer – manifest differentiated metabolic and immune reactions. The amplitude, duration and efficacy of these responses are reportedly impaired along several ways in PEM patients. These last detrimental effects are accompanied by a number of medical, social and economical consequences, such as extended length of hospital stay and increased complication / mortality rates. It is therefore mandatory to correctly identify and follow up the nutritional status of hospitalized patients. Such approaches are prerequisite to timely and scientifically grounded nutritional and pharmacological mediated interventions.
Contrary to the rest of the body, energy requirements of the inflamed territory are primarily fulfilled by anaerobic glycolysis, an effect triggered by the inhibition of key-enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism, notably pyruvate-dehydrogenase. This non-oxidative combustion of glucose reveals low conversion efficiency but offers the major advantage to maintain, in the context of hyperglycemia, fuel provision to poorly irrigated and/or edematous tissues. The depression of the 5’-monodeiodinating activity (5’-DA) plays a pivotal role in these adaptive changes, yielding inactive reverse T3 (rT3) as index of impaired T4 to T3 conversion rates, but at the same time there is an augmented supply of bioactive T3 molecules and local overstimulation of thyro-dependent processes characterized by thyroid down-regulation. The same differentiated evolutionary pattern applies to IGF1. In spite of lowered plasma total concentrations, the proportion of IGF1 released in free form may be substantially increased owing to the proteolytic degradation of IGFBP-3 in the intravascular compartment. The digestion of BP-3 results from the surge of several proteases occurring the course of stress, yielding biologically active IGF1 molecules available for the repair of damaged tissues. In contrast, healthy receptors oppose a strong resistance to IGF1 ligands freed in the general circulation, likely induced by an acquired phosphorylation defect very similar in nature to that for the insulin transduction pathway.
PEM is the generic denomination of a broad spectrum of nutritional disorders, commonly found in hospital settings, and whose extreme poles are identified as marasmus and kwashiorkor. The former condition is usually regarded as the result of long-lasting starvation leading to the loss of lean body mass and fat reserves but relatively well-preserved liver function and immune capacities. The latter condition is typically the consequence of (sub)acute deprivation predominantly affecting the protein content of staplefood, an imbalance causing hepatic steatosis, fall of visceral proteins, edema and increased vulnerability to most stressful factors. PEM may be hypometabolic or hypermetabolic, usually coexists with other diseased states and is frequently associated with complications. Identification of PEM calls upon a large set of clinical and analytical disciplines comprising anthropometry, immunology, hematology and biochemistry.
CBG, TTR and RBP share in common the transport of specific ligands exerting their metabolic effects at nuclear receptor level. Released from their specific BPs in free form, cortisol, FT4 and retinol immediately participe to the strenghtening of the positive and negative responses to stressful stimuli. CBG is a relatively weak responder to short-term nutritional influences (73) although long-lasting PEM is reportedly capable of causing its significant diminution (74). The dramatic drop of CBG in the course of stress appears as the combined effect of Il-6-induced posttranscriptional blockade of its liver synthesis (75) and peripheral overconsumption by activated neutrophils (61). The divergent alterations outlined by CBG and total cortisolemia result in an increased disposal of free ligand reaching proportions considerably higher than the 4 % recorded under physiological conditions.
The appellation of negative APPs that was once given to the visceral group of carrier-proteins. The NDAD concept takes the opposite view, defending the opinion that their suppressed synthesis releases free ligands which positively contribute to strengthen all aspects of the stress reaction, justifying the ABR denomination. This implies that the role played by ABRs should no longer be interpreted in terms of concentrations but in terms of functionality.
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THE OXIDATIVE STRESS OF HYPERHOMOCYSTEINEMIA RESULTS FROM REDUCED BIOAVAILABILITY OF SULFUR-CONTAINING REDUCTANTS.
Yves Ingenbleek. The Open Clinical Chemistry Journal, 2011, 4, 34-44.
Vegetarian subjects consuming subnormal amounts of methionine (Met) are characterized by subclinical protein malnutrition causing reduction in size of their lean body mass (LBM) best identified by the serial measurement of plasma transthyretin (TTR). As a result, the transsulfuration pathway is depressed at cystathionine-β-synthase (CβS) level triggering the upstream sequestration of homocysteine (Hcy) in biological fluids and promoting its conversion to Met. Maintenance of beneficial Met homeostasis is counterpoised by the drop of cysteine (Cys) and glutathione (GSH) values downstream to CβS causing in turn declining generation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from enzymatic sources. The biogenesis of H2S via non-enzymatic reduction is further inhibited in areas where earth’s crust is depleted in elemental sulfur (S8) and sulfate oxyanions. Combination of subclinical malnutrition and S8-deficiency thus maximizes the defective production of Cys, GSH and H2S reductants, explaining persistence of unabated oxidative burden. The clinical entity increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and stroke in underprivileged plant-eating populations regardless of Framingham criteria and vitamin-B status. Although unrecognized up to now, the nutritional disorder is one of the commonest worldwide, reaching top prevalence in populated regions of Southeastern Asia. Increased risk of hyperhomocysteinemia and oxidative stress may also affect individuals suffering from intestinal malabsorption or westernized communities having adopted vegan dietary lifestyles.
Metabolic pathways: Met molecules supplied by dietary proteins are submitted to TM processes allowing to release Hcy which may in turn either undergo Hcy – Met RM pathways or be irreversibly committed into TS decay. Impairment of CbS activity, as described in protein malnutrition, entails supranormal accumulation of Hcy in body fluids, stimulation of activity and maintenance of Met homeostasis. This last beneficial effect is counteracted by decreased concentration of most components generated downstream to CbS, explaining the depressed CbS- and CbL-mediated enzymatic production of H2S along the TS cascade. The restricted dietary intake of elemental S further operates as a limiting factor for its non-enzymatic reduction to H2S which contributes to downsizing a common body pool. Combined protein- and S-deficiencies work in concert to deplete Cys, GSH and H2S from their body reserves, hence impeding these reducing molecules to properly face the oxidative stress imposed by hyperhomocysteinemia.
see also …
McCully, K.S. Vascular pathology of homocysteinemia: implications for the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. Am. J. Pathol., 1996, 56, 111-128.
Cheng, Z.; Yang, X.; Wang, H. Hyperhomocysteinemia and endothelial dysfunction. Curr. Hypertens. Rev., 2009, 5,158-165.
Loscalzo, J. The oxidant stress of hyperhomocyst(e)inemia. J. Clin.Invest., 1996, 98, 5-7.
Ingenbleek, Y.; Hardillier, E.; Jung, L. Subclinical protein malnutrition is a determinant of hyperhomocysteinemia. Nutrition, 2002, 18, 40-46.
Ingenbleek, Y.; Young, V.R. The essentiality of sulfur is closely related to nitrogen metabolism: a clue to hyperhomocysteinemia. Nutr. Res. Rev., 2004, 17, 135-153.
Hosoki, R.; Matsuki, N.; Kimura, H. The possible role of hydrogen sulfide as an endogenous smooth muscle relaxant in synergy with nitric oxide. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 1997, 237, 527-531.
Tang, B.; Mustafa, A.; Gupta, S.; Melnyk, S.; James S.J.; Kruger, W.D. Methionine-deficient diet induces post-transcriptional downregulation of cystathionine--synthase. Nutrition, 2010, 26, 1170-1175.
Elshorbagy, A.K.; Valdivia-Garcia, M.; Refsum, H.; Smith, A.D.; Mattocks, D.A.; Perrone, C.E. Sulfur amino acids in methioninerestricted rats: Hyperhomocysteinemia. Nutrition, 2010, 26, 1201- 1204.
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Yves Ingenbleek. Plasma Transthyretin Reflects the Fluctuations of Lean Body Mass in Health and Disease. Chapter 20. In S.J. Richardson and V. Cody (eds.), Recent Advances in Transthyretin Evolution, Structure and Biological Functions, DOI: 10.1007/978‐3‐642‐00646‐3_20, # Springer‐Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.
Transthyretin (TTR) is a 55-kDa protein secreted mainly by the choroid plexus and the liver. Whereas its intracerebral production appears as a stable secretory process allowing even distribution of intrathecal thyroid hormones, its hepatic synthesis is influenced by nutritional and inflammatory circumstances working concomitantly. Both morbid conditions are governed by distinct pathogenic mechanisms leading to the reduction in size of lean body mass (LBM). The liver production of TTR integrates the dietary and stressful components of any disease spectrum, explaining why it is the sole plasma protein whose evolutionary patterns closely follow the shape outlined by LBM fluctuations. Serial measurement of TTR therefore provides unequalled information on the alterations affecting overall protein nutritional status. Recent advances in TTR physiopathology emphasize the detecting power and preventive role played by the protein in hyperhomocysteinemic states, acquired metabolic disorders currently ascribed to dietary restriction in water-soluble vitamins. Sulfur (S)-deficiency is proposed as an additional causal factor in the sizeable proportion of hyperhomocysteinemic patients characterized by adequate vitamin intake but experiencing varying degrees of nitrogen (N)-depletion. Owing to the fact that N and S coexist in plant and animal tissues within tightly related concentrations, decreasing LBM as an effect of dietary shortage and/or excessive hypercatabolic losses induces proportionate S-losses. Regardless of water-soluble vitamin status, elevation of homocysteine plasma levels is negatively correlated with LBM reduction and declining TTR plasma levels. These findings occur as the result of impaired cystathionine-b-synthase activity, an enzyme initiating the transsulfuration pathway and whose suppression promotes the upstream accumulation and remethylation of homocysteine molecules. Under conditions of N- and S-deficiencies, the maintenance of methionine homeostasis indicates high metabolic priority.
Schematically, the human body may be divided into two major compartments, namely fat mass (FM) and FFM that is obtained by substracting
FM from body weight (BW). The fat cell mass sequesters about 80% of the total body lipids, is poorly hydrated and contains only small quantities of lean tissues and nonfat constituents. FFM comprises the sizeable part of lean tissues and minor mineral compounds among which are Ca, P, Na, and Cl pools totaling about 1.7 kg or 2.5% of BW in a healthy man weighing 70 kg. Subtraction of mineral mass from FFM provides LBM, a composite aggregation of organs and tissues with specific functional properties. LBM is thus nearly but not strictly equivalent to FFM. With extracellular mineral content subtracted, LBM accounts for most of total body proteins (TBP) and of TBN assuming a mean 6.25 ratio between protein and N content.
SM accounts for 45% of TBN whereas the remaining 55% is in nonmuscle lean tissues. The LBM of the reference man contains 98% of total
body potassium (TBK) and the bulk of total body sulfur (TBS). TBK and TBS reach equal intracellular amounts (140 g each) and share distribution patterns (half in SM and half in the rest of cell mass). The body content of K and S largely exceeds that of magnesium (19 g), iron (4.2 g) and zinc (2.3 g). The average hydration level of LBM in healthy subjects of all age is 73% with the proportion of the intracellular/extracellular fluid spaces being 4:3. SM is of particular relevance in nutritional studies due to its capacity to serve as a major reservoir of amino acids (AAs) and as a dispenser of gluconeogenic substrates. An indirect estimate of SM size consists in the measurement of urinary creatinine, end-product of the nonenzymatic hydrolysis of phosphocreatine which is limited to muscle cells.
During ageing, all the protein components of the human body decrease regularly. This shrinking tendency is especially well documented for SM whose absolute amount is preserved until the end of the fifth decade, consistent with studies showing unmodified muscle structure, intracellular K content and working capacit. TBN and TBK are highly correlated in healthy subjects and both parameters manifest an age-dependent curvilinear decline
with an accelerated decrease after 65 years. The trend toward sarcopenia is more marked and rapid in elderly men than in elderly women decreasing strength and functional capacity. The downward SM slope may be somewhat prevented by physical training or accelerated by supranormal cytokine status as reported in apparently healthy aged persons suffering low-grade inflammation. 2002) or in critically ill patients whose muscle mass undergoes proteolysis and contractile dysfunction.
The serial measurement of plasma TTR in healthy children shows that BP values are low in the neonatal period and rise linearly with superimposable concentrations in both sexes during infant growth consistent with superimposable N accretion and protein synthesis rates. Starting from the sixties, TTR values progressively decline showing steeper slopes in elderly males. The lowering trend seems to be initiated by the attenuation of androgen influences and trophic stimuli with increasing age. The normal human TTR trajectory from birth to death has been well documented by scientists belonging to the Foundation for Blood Research. TTR is the first plasma protein to decline in response to marginal protein restricion, thus working as an early signal warning that adaptive mechanisms maintaining homeostasis are undergoing decompensation.
TTR was proposed as a marker of protein nutritional status following a clinical investigation undertaken in 1972 on protein-energy malnourished (PEM) Senegalese children (Ingenbleek et al. 1972). By comparison with ALB and transferrin (TF) plasma values, TTR revealed a much higher degree of sensitivity to changes in protein status that has been attributed to its shorter biological half-life (2 days) and to its unusual Trp richness (Ingenbleek et al. 1972, 1975a). Transcription of the TTR gene in the liver is directed by CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) bound to hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 (HNF1) under the control of several other HNFs. The mechanism responsible for the suppressed TTR synthesis in PEM-states is a restricted AA and energy supply working as limiting factors (Ingenbleek and Young 2002). The rapidly turning over TTR protein is highly responsive to any change in protein flux and energy supply, being clearly situated on the cutting edge of the equipoise.
LBM shrinking may be the consequence of either dietary restriction reducing protein syntheses to levels compatible with survival or that of cytokine-induced tissue proteolysis exceeding protein synthesis and resulting in a net body negative N balance. The size of LBM in turn determines plasma TTR concentrations whose liver production similarly depends on both dietary provision and inflammatory conditions. In animal cancer models, reduced TBN pools were correlated with decreasing plasma TTR values and provided the same predictive ability. In kidney patients, LBM is proposed as an excellent predictor of outcome working in the same direction as TTR plasma levels. High N intake, supposed to preserve LBM reserves, reduces significantly the mortality rate of kidney patients and is positively correlated with the alterations of TTR plasma concentrations appearing as the sole predictor of final outcome. It is noteworthy that most SELDI or MALDI workers interested in defining protein nutritional status have chosen TTR as a biomarker, showing that there exists a large consensus considering the BP as the most reliable indicator of protein depletion in most morbid circumstances.
Total homocysteine (tHcy) is a S-containing AA not found in customary diets but endogenously produced in the body of mammals by the enzymatic transmethylation of methionine (Met), one of the eight IAAs supplied by staplefoods. tHcy may either serve as precursor substrate for the synthesis of new Met molecules along the remethylation (RM) pathway or undergo irreversible kidney leakage through a cascade of derivatives defining the transsulfuration (TS) pathway. Hcy is thus situated at the crossroad of RM and TS pathways that are regulated by three water-soluble vitamins (pyridoxine, B6; folates, B9; cobalamins, B12).
Significant positive correlations are found between tHcy and plasma urea and plasma creatinine, indicating that both visceral and muscular tissues undergo proteolytic degradation throughout the course of rampant inflammatory burden. In healthy individuals, tHcy plasma concentrations maintain positive correlations with LBM and TTR from birth until the end of adulthood. Starting from the onset of normal old age, tHcy values become disconnected from LBM control and reveal diverging trends with TTR values. Of utmost importance is the finding that, contrary to all protein
components which are downregulated in protein-depleted states, tHcy values are upregulated. Hyperhomocysteinemia is an acquired clinical entity characterized by mild or moderate elevation in tHcy blood values found in apparently healthy individuals (McCully 1969). This distinct morbid condition appears as a public health problem of increasing importance in the general population, being regarded as an independent and graded risk factor for vascular pathogenesis unrelated to hypercholesterolemia, arterial hypertension, diabetes and smoking.
Studies grounded on stepwise multiple regression analysis have concluded that the two main watersoluble vitamins account for only 28% of tHcy variance whereas vitamins B6, B9, and B12, taken together, did not account for more than 30–40% of variance. Moreover, a number of hyperhomocysteinemic conditions are not responsive to folate and pyridoxine supplementation. This situation prompted us to search for other causal factors which might fill the gap between the public health data and the vitamin triad deficiencies currently incriminated. We suggest that S – the forgotten element – plays central roles in nutritional epidemiology (Ingenbleek and Young 2004).
Aminoacidemia studies performed in PEM children, adult patients and elderly subjects have reported that the concentrations of plasma IAAs invariably display lowering trends as the morbid condition worsens. The depressed tendency is especially pronounced in the case of tryptophan and for the so-called branched-chain AAs (BCAAs, isoleucine, leucine, valine) the decreases in which are regarded as a salient PEM feature following the direction outlined by TTR (Ingenbleek et al. 1986). Met constitutes a notable exception to the above described evolutionary profiles, showing unusual stability in chronically protein depleted states.
Maintenance of normal methioninemia is associated with supranormal tHcy blood values in PEMadults (Ingenbleek et al. 1986) and increased tHcy leakage in the urinary output of PEM children. In contrast, most plasma and urinary S-containing compounds produced along the TS pathway downstream to CbSconverting step (Fig. 20.1) display significantly diminished values. This is notably the case for cystathionine (Ingenbleek et al. 1986), glutathione, taurine, and sulfaturia. Such distorted patterns are reminiscent of abnormalities defining homocystinuria, an inborn disease of Met metabolism characterized by CbS refractoriness to pyridoxine stimuli, thereby promoting the upstream retention of tHcy in biological fluids. It
was hypothesized more than 20 years ago (Ingenbleek et al. 1986) that PEM is apparently able to similarly depress CbS activity, suggesting that the enzyme is a N-status sensitive step working as a bidirectional lockgate, overstimulated by high Met intake (Finkelstein and Martin 1986) and downregulated under N-deprivation conditions (Ingenbleek et al. 2002). Confirmation that N dietary deprivation may inhibit CbS activity has recently provided. The tHcy precursor pool is enlarged in biological fluids, boosting Met remethylation processes along the RM pathway, consistent with studies showing overstimulation of Met-synthase activity in conditions of protein restriction. In other words, high tHcy plasma concentrations observed in PEM states are the dark side of adaptive mechanisms for maintaining Met homeostasis. This is consistent with the unique role played by Met in the preservation of N body stores.
The classical interpretation that strict vegans, who consume plenty of folates in their diet and manifest nevertheless higher tHcy plasma concentrations than omnivorous counterparts, needs to be revisited. On the basis of hematological and biochemical criteria, cobalamin deficiency is one of the most prevalent vitamin-deficiencies wordwide, being often incriminated as deficient in vegan subjects. It seems, however, likely that its true causal impact on rising tHcy values is substantially overestimated in most studies owing to the modest contribution played by cobalamins on tHcy
variance analyses. In contrast, there exists a growing body of converging data indicating that the role played by the protein component is largely underscored in vegan studies. It is worth recalling that S is the main intracellular anion coexisting with N within a constant mean S:N ratio (1:14.5) in animal tissues and dietary products of animal origin (Ingenbleek 2006). The mean S:N ratio found in plant items ranges from 1:20 to 1:35, a proportion that does not optimally meet human tissue requirements (Ingenbleek 2006), paving the way for borderline S and N deficiencies.
A recent Taiwanese investigation on hyperhomocysteinemic nuns consuming traditional vegetarian regimens consisting of mainly rice, soy products,
vegetables and fruits with few or no dairy items illustrates such clinical misinterpretation (Hung et al. 2002). The authors reported that folates and cobalamins, taken together, accounted for only 28.6% of tHcy variance in the vegetarian cohort whereas pyridoxine was inoperative (Hung et al. 2002). The daily vegetable N and Met intakes were situated highly significantly (p < 0.001) below the recommended allowances for humans (FAO/WHO/United Nations University 1985), causing a stage of unrecognized PEM documented by significantly depressed BCAA plasma
concentrations. Met levels escaped the overall decline in IAAs levels, emphasizing that efficient homeostatic mechanisms operate at the expense of an acquired hyperhomocysteinemic state. The diagnosis of subclinical PEM was missed because the authors ignored the exquisitely sensitive TTR detecting power. A proper PEM identification would have allowed the authors to confirm the previously described TTR–tHcy relationship that was established in Western Africa from comparable field studies involving country dwellers living on plant products.
The concept that acute or chronic stressful conditions may exert similar inhibitory effects on CbS activity and thereby promote hyperhomocysteinemic states is founded on previous studies showing that hypercatabolic states are characterized by increased urinary N and S losses maintaining tightly correlated depletion rates (Cuthbertson 1931; Ingenbleek and Young 2004; Sherman and Hawk 1900) which reflect the S:N ratio found in tissues undergoing cytokine induced proteolysis. This has been documented in coronary infarction and in acute pancreatitis where tHcy elevation evolves too rapidly to allow for a nutritional vitamin B-deficit explanation. tHcy is considered stable in plasma and the two investigations report unaltered folate and cobalamin plasma concentrations.
The clinical usefulness of TTR as a nutritional biomarker, described in the early seventies (Ingenbleek et al. 1972) has been substantially disregarded by the scientific community for nearly four decades. This long-lasting reluctance expressed by many investigators is largely due to the fact that protein malnutrition and stressful disorders of various causes have combined inhibitory effects on hepatic TTR synthesis. Declining TTR plasma concentrations may result from either dietary protein and energy restrictions or from cytokine-induced transcriptional blockade (Murakami et al. 1988) of its hepatic synthesis. The proposed marker was therefore seen as having high sensitivity but poor specificity. Recent advances in protein metabolism settle the controversy by throwing further light on the relationships between TTR and the N-components of body composition.
The developmental patterns of LBM and TTR exhibit striking similarities. Both parameters rise from birth to puberty, manifest gender dimorphism during full sexual maturity then decrease during ageing. Uncomplicated PEM primarily affects both visceral and structural pools of LBM with distinct kinetics, reducing protein synthesis to levels compatible with prolonged survival. In acute or chronic stressful disorders, LBM undergoes muscle proteolysis exceeding the upregulation of protein syntheses in liver and injured areas, yielding a net body negative N balance. These adaptive responses are well identified by the measurement of TTR plasma concentrations which therefore appear as a plasma marker for LBM fluctuations.
Attenuation of stress and/or introduction of nutritional rehabilitation restores both LBM and TTR to normal values following parallel slopes. TTR fulfills, therefore, a unique position in assessing actual protein nutritional status, monitoring the efficacy of dietetic support and predicting the patient’s outcome (Bernstein and Pleban 1996).
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Bhowmick NA. 
2012pharmaceutical
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