HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Wagner, C. Articles by Koury, M. J PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wagner, C. Articles by Koury, M. J Agricola Articles by Wagner, C. Articles by Koury, M. J

S-Adenosylhomocysteine—a better indicator of vascular disease than homocysteine?^1,2,3

¹ From the Departments of Biochemistry (CW) and Medicine (MJK), Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN (CW and MJK)

It is widely accepted that elevated plasma total homocysteine is an independent risk factor for vascular disease. The relation is believed to be causal, but there is no generally accepted mechanism for the pathophysiology involved. The metabolic precursor of homocysteine in all tissues is S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy). AdoHcy is present in normal human plasma at concentrations approximately 1-500th of those of homocysteine, a fact that presents difficulties in measurement. The requirement for specialized equipment, complicated time-consuming methodology, or both is a reason that measurement of plasma AdoHcy has not generally been carried out in large studies. A recently published rapid immunoassay for AdoHcy in human plasma should make measurement of this important metabolite available for general use. Advantages of the measurement of plasma AdoHcy include 1) a smaller overlap of values between control subjects and patients, and thus the possibility of observing significant differences in fewer samples, 2) an accepted mechanism of metabolic activity as an inhibitor of all S-adenosylmethionine–mediated methyltransferases, and 3) evidence (from recent studies) that a higher plasma concentration of AdoHcy is a more sensitive indicator of vascular disease than is a higher plasma concentration of homocysteine.

Key Words: S-Adenosylhomocysteine • S-adenosylmethionine • homocysteine • vascular disease • methionine • risk factors • plasma

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Wagner and M. J. Koury Plasma S-Adenosylhomocysteine Versus Homocysteine as a Marker for Vascular Disease J. Nutr., May 1, 2008; 138(5): 980 - 980. [Full Text] [PDF]