Elevated serum nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide levels as potential valuable predictors of herpes zoster

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the biomarkers of oxidative stress in herpes zoster patients compared with control subjects. Methods: This study compared the nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde, uric acid, and bilirubin levels between 43 herpes zoster patients and 47 age-matched control subjects. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve was performed to evaluate the final logistic regression model. Results: The significant differences were observed in the serum levels of NO, H2O2, and malondialdehyde between the case and the control groups (P<0.001). However, no statistical differences were found in both uric acid and bilirubin levels between the groups. Additionally, the raised oxidant biomarkers were strongly associated with increased disease severity (P<0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis with the highest area under the curve [0.98 (95% CI 0.95-1.00)] and the minimum number of variables showed that high levels of NO (OR 1.24; 95% CI 1.061.46; P=0.008) and H2O2 (OR 1.25; 95% CI 1.09-1.43; P=0.001) were associated with herpes zoster. Conclusions: High levels of NO and H2O2 were observed in patients with herpes zoster. Increased NO and H2O2 levels might be associated with herpes zoster, which needs to be confirmed by further studies.