Plasma coenzyme Q10 status is impaired in selected genetic conditions

Raquel Montero,Angels García-Cazorla,Maria Del Mar O’Callaghan,Silvia Meavilla,Verónica Delgadillo,Iain Hargreaves,Joan Maynou,Eduardo Ruiz-Pesini,Viruna Neergheen,Rafael Artuch,Julio Montoya,María Julieta González,Delia Yubero,Guerau Fernandez,Placido Navas,Maria C Salgado,Jaume Campistol,Mercè Pineda

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37542-2

Abstract

Identifying diseases displaying chronic low plasma Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ) values may be important to prevent possible cardiovascular dysfunction. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate plasma CoQ concentrations in a large cohort of pediatric and young adult patients. We evaluated plasma CoQ values in 597 individuals (age range 1 month to 43 years, average 11 years), studied during the period 2005–2016. Patients were classified into 6 different groups: control group of healthy participants, phenylketonuric patients (PKU), patients with mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS), patients with other inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), patients with neurogenetic diseases, and individuals with neurological diseases with no genetic diagnosis. Plasma total CoQ was measured by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection and ultraviolet detection at 275 nm. ANOVA with Bonferroni correction showed that plasma CoQ values were significantly lower in the PKU and MPS groups than in controls and neurological patients. The IEM group showed intermediate values that were not significantly different from those of the controls. In PKU patients, the Chi-Square test showed a significant association between having low plasma CoQ values and being classic PKU patients. The percentage of neurogenetic and other neurological patients with low CoQ values was low (below 8%). In conclusión, plasma CoQ monitoring in selected groups of patients with different IEM (especially in PKU and MPS patients, but also in IEM under protein-restricted diets) seems advisable to prevent the possibility of a chronic blood CoQ suboptimal status in such groups of patients.

Highlights

Identifying diseases displaying chronic low plasma Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ) values may be important to prevent possible cardiovascular dysfunction
The benzoquinone ring of CoQ is derived from tyrosine, while the polyprenyl side-chain comes from acetyl-CoA, through the mevalonate pathway, which is common to the synthesis of other lipids such as dolichol and cholesterol, in a tightly regulated process[2]
We defined low plasma CoQ values as those below the lowest limit of the reference interval established in our laboratory, which was 0.38 μmol/L corresponding to the 2.5 percentile (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Identifying diseases displaying chronic low plasma Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ) values may be important to prevent possible cardiovascular dysfunction. ANOVA with Bonferroni correction showed that plasma CoQ values were significantly lower in the PKU and MPS groups than in controls and neurological patients. Identifying diseases displaying chronic low plasma CoQ values may be important to prevent possible cardiovascular dysfunction. The simultaneous measurement of plasma CoQ and Chol levels is of interest to assess the relationship between the presence of these two lipids in the blood[10] and may predict the potential for the oxidative damage of the cholesterol transporter lipoproteins[11]. The key role of CoQ in the protection of Chol lipoprotein against free-radical damage strongly advocates the identification of patients presenting with chronic low plasma CoQ values

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Conclusion