Repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis system, sleep disturbances, and other symptoms related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) elevate reactive oxygen species, increase inflammation, and accelerate cellular aging, leading to neuroprogression and cognitive decline. However, there is no information about possible involvement of 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), the product of lipid peroxidation associated with stress-associated diseases, in the complex etiology of PTSD. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the plasma levels of 4-HNE between war veterans with PTSD (n = 62) and age-, sex- and ethnicity- matched healthy control subjects (n = 58) in order to evaluate the potential of HNE-modified proteins as blood-based biomarker of PTSD. The genuine 4-HNE-Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (HNE-ELISA), based on monoclonal antibody specific for HNE-histidine (HNE-His) adducts, was used to determine plasma HNE-protein conjugates. Our results revealed significantly elevated levels of 4-HNE in patients with PTSD. Moreover, the accumulation of plasma 4-HNE seems to increase with aging but in a negative correlation with BMI, showing specific pattern of change for individuals diagnosed with PTSD. These findings suggest that oxidative stress and altered lipid metabolism reflected by increase of 4-HNE might be associated with PTSD. If confirmed with further studies, elevated 4-HNE plasma levels might serve as a potential biomarker of PTSD.

中文翻译：

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脂质过氧化产物 4-羟基壬烯醛与创伤后应激障碍的关系

下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴系统的反复激活、睡眠障碍和其他与创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 相关的症状会升高活性氧、增加炎症并加速细胞老化，从而导致神经进展和认知能力下降。然而，没有关于 4-羟基壬烯醛 (4-HNE) 的信息，它是与压力相关疾病相关的脂质过氧化产物，在 PTSD 的复杂病因中。因此，本研究的目的是比较患有 PTSD 的退伍军人 ( n = 62) 和年龄、性别和种族匹配的健康对照组 ( n= 58) 以评估 HNE 修饰蛋白作为 PTSD 血液生物标志物的潜力。真正的 4-HNE-酶联免疫吸附试验 (HNE-ELISA)，基于对 HNE-组氨酸 (HNE-His) 加合物特异的单克隆抗体，用于测定血浆 HNE-蛋白偶联物。我们的结果显示 PTSD 患者的 4-HNE 水平显着升高。此外，血浆 4-HNE 的积累似乎随着年龄的增长而增加，但与 BMI 呈负相关，显示出被诊断患有 PTSD 的个体的特定变化模式。这些发现表明，4-HNE 增加所反映的氧化应激和脂质代谢改变可能与 PTSD 相关。如果进一步研究证实，升高的 4-HNE 血浆水平可能作为 PTSD 的潜在生物标志物。