Reduction of oxidative stress in successfully treated patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP), as measured by redox status of coenzyme Q10 (%CoQ-10)

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) causes exacerbation of various respiratory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), due to probably enhancement of oxidative stress. The redox status of coenzyme Q-10 (%CoQ10) is a good indicator of oxidative stress, as revealed in various diseases including COPD (Wada H et al., ERS 2006) and liver diseases and neurologic diseases. However, no data has addressed whether%CoQ-10 increased or not in CAP patients. Materials & methods: Diagnosis of CAP was made on the symptoms and confirmed by the radiologic and laboratory examination (CRP, leukocyte count, SAA). All the patients (n=7) were treated with new-generation quinolone. Plasma was extracted from blood samples at day 1 before the antimicrobial treatment, and either at day 8 or day 15, after treatment. Both oxidized and reduced forms of coenzyme Q-10 were measured and%CoQ-10 was defiened as the percentage of plasma level of the oxidized form to total coenzyme Q-10. Results & discussion: All the patients enrolled were successfully treated, as their symptoms improved, together with the results of laboratory and radiologic examination.%CoQ-10 before treatment was 39.1±12.0, whilst%CoQ-10 became after treatment significantly lower in the plasma value (p=0.003); 22.7±6.6. Thus, our study demonstrated that oxidative stress was reduced, as CAP was successfully treated. Our result indicated that%CoQ-10 can well indicate the oxidative stress burden on CAP patients.