Altered DNA repair, oxidative stress and antioxidant status in coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a multifactorial disease caused by the interplay of environmental risk factors with multiple predisposing genes. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of DNA repair efficiency and oxidative stress and antioxidant status in CAD patients. Malonaldehyde (MDA), which is an indicator of oxidative stress, and mean break per cell (b/c) values, which is an indicator of decreased DNA repair efficiency, were found to be significantly increased in patients compared to normal controls (P less than 0.05) whereas ascorbic acid and GSH were found to be lower among patients than the control group. It has been found that elevated oxidative stress decreased antioxidant level and decreased DNA repair efficiency can contribute to the development of CAD. This study also showed that high MDA, low ascorbic acid and GSH were significantly associated with high b/c value.