GAMMA-GLUTAMYL TRANSPEPTIDASE ALTERATION AS A
BIOMARKER OF OXIDATIVE STRESS IN PATIENTS WITH HUMAN
PAPILLOMAVIRUS LESIONS FOLLOWING TOPICAL TREATMENT
WITH SINECATECHINS
ILINCA NICOLAE1#, MIRCEA TAMPA1,2#*, CRISTINA MITRAN1#, CORINA DANIELA ENE3#, MĂDĂLINA MITRAN1#, CLARA MATEI2#, ALINA MUŞETESCU1#, SILVIU PIȚURU2#, CORINA SILVIA POP4#, SIMONA-ROXANA GEORGESCU1,2#
1“Victor Babeş” Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Bucharest, Romania
2“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
3“Carol Davila” Nephrology Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
4Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
*corresponding author: tampa_mircea@yahoo.com
# All authors have equally contributed to this paper.
Download Full Article

Abstract:
Human papillomavirus (HPV) penetrates the skin or mucous membranes and in most cases undergoes a natural clearance of
virus, pertaining to various factors such as skin integrity and efficacy of the immune response. However, in persistent cases
that escape the natural clearance mechanism, the infection leads to the development of skin and mucous lesions, including
warts. Sinecatechins, an extract of green tea leaves from Camellia sinensis, is a newly approved therapeutic agent with
recently proved efficacy in the treatment of warts. While the mechanism of action is not yet fully understood, it has been
postulated that sinecatechins exhibit not only antiviral/antitumour activity, but also an antioxidant action contributing to its
effectiveness. This study was conducted to evaluate the oxidative stress biomarkers before and after the treatment with 10%
sinecatechins ointment in patients with cutaneous and genital warts. There were assessed the oxidative status (TOS), the
antioxidative status (TAS), oxidative stress index (OSI) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) activity as biomarkers of
oxidative stress both before and after the topical treatment in patients with HPV lesions (n = 35) as well as in normal controls
(n = 35). We have also assessed the correlations between GGT activity and the level of oxidative stress biomarkers. There
were not registered significant changes in GGT level (U/L: 29.1 ± 15.9 vs. 20.8 ± 6.2, p > 0.05), TOS level (μmol H2O2
equivalent/L serum: 3.10 ± 0.29 vs. 3.08 ± 0.22, p > 0.05), and TAS level (μmol Trolox equivalent/L: 1.61 ± 0.31 vs. 1.68 ±
0.26, p > 0.05), accompanied by a statistically significant reduction in OSI level (1.93 ± 0.61 vs. 1.83 ± 0.46, p < 0.05) at the
end of the treatment, compared to baseline values. A positive correlation between OSI and GGT in patients with HPV lesions
prior to the initiation of treatment (r = 0.312, p < 0.05) was noticed, as well.

Top