Circulating Homocysteine is an Inflammation Marker and a Risk Factor of Life-Threatening Inflammatory Diseases

Deficiency in vitamin B6, B12 or folate is the major cause of hyperhomocysteinemia. Since inflammation promotes cell proliferation at the expense of excess amount of vitamins, therefore, hyperhomocysteinemia may indicate the presence of inflammation. Moreover, inflammation enhances the synthesis of nitric oxide, which again produces hyperhomocysteinemia through binding with vitamin B12. Consequently, varying degrees of hyperhomocysteinemia are detectable in all inflammatory diseases. Hyperhomocysteinemia is also considered as a risk factor for inflammatory diseases including life-threatening cardiovascular disease, stroke, renal failure and cancer. It should be noted that hyperhomocysteinemia not only is produced from inflammation, but the oxidative stress generated from hyperhomocysteinemia will again promote inflammation. As a result, elevated homocysteine and inflammation markers are frequently being detected at the same time but are not correlated with each other. On the other hand, because of their different inflammatory pathways, measuring simultaneously the homocysteine and inflammation markers will improve the overall sensitivity of detection.