Superoxide Dismutase Levels and Polymorphism (Ala16val) In Tuberculosis Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in Medan City

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases and metabolic disorders would result in oxidative stress in cells. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an antioxidant present inside cells that acts against oxidative stress. SOD gene polymorphism can affect the activity and levels of SOD. AIM: This study aimed to analyse SOD levels and polymorphism of gene (ala16val) that regulated SOD in tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus in Medan city. METHODS: A total of 40 tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus and 40 healthy subjects participated in the study. The levels of SOD were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Analysis of SOD gene polymorphism (ala16val) was done using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment lengths polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) with BsaW1 as the restriction enzyme. The statistical significance was determined using the Mann Whitney test, Fisher's exact test, and Kruskal Wallis test (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The SOD levels of tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus were lower than those of the healthy subjects (102.474 ± 36.07 U/L vs 294.543 ± 58.75 U/L, p 0.05). There was no association between SOD levels and SOD gene polymorphism (ala16val) in tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: In this study, there was an association between the levels of SOD and tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus, but not for the SOD gene polymorphism (ala16val). The SOD gene polymorphism (ala16val) was not the key role to influence the SOD levels in tuberculosis patients with diabetes mellitus in Medan city.