Can biotinidase activity be used as a new inflammatory marker in multiple sclerosis?

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between known inflammatory markers and serum biotidinase activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients was evaluated. This study was conducted between June 2022 and December 2022 in a tertiary referral hospital. MS patients with active infection, end-stage disease, malignancy, and trauma or infection in the last month were excluded. Complete blood count was performed by automated hematology analyzer, C-reactive protein (CRP) was determined by turbidimetric method with serum sample, and serum biotidinase activity was studied by enzymatic spectrophotometric method. The relationship between neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), CRP, immature granulocyte (IG) percentage, and serum biotidinase activity were evaluated with Spearman correlation analysis. A total of 126 patients (mean age was 36.5±9.2 years) were included in our study, and 86 of them (68%) were female. Eighty-four patients (66%) had low biotidinase activity. The patients with low and normal biotidinase activity were compared and there was no significant difference between age, NLR, PLR, CRP levels, and incidence of optic neuritis and myelitis (p=0.509, p=0.548, p=0.883, p=0.911, p=0.403, p=0.892 respectively). By Spearman's correlation analysis, there was no significant correlation between biotidinase activity and CRP, IG percentage, NLR and PLR. A significant correlation was found between NLR with PLR and IG [(p<0.001, r=0.756); (p=0.007, r=0.245), respectively]. This study suggests that biotidinase activity is not an inflammatory enzyme. More comprehensive prospective studies are needed on this subject.