# Reticulocyte Antioxidant Enzymes mRNA Levels versus Reticulocyte Maturity Indices in Hereditary Spherocytosis, β-Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease

## TL;DR

This study compares antioxidant enzyme mRNA levels in reticulocytes from patients with blood disorders and healthy individuals, finding that enzyme levels reflect both cell maturity and disease-specific adaptations.

## Contribution

The study reveals that antioxidant enzyme mRNA levels in reticulocytes are influenced not only by cell maturity but also by disease-specific adaptive mechanisms in anemias.

## Key findings

- In healthy individuals, antioxidant enzyme mRNA levels correlate with reticulocyte maturity except for SOD1.
- Patients with HS, SCD, and β-thal have younger reticulocytes with higher enzyme mRNA levels, but with distinct patterns.
- Enzyme mRNA profiles suggest adaptive responses to abnormal erythropoiesis in different anemias.

## Abstract

The antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and peroxiredoxin 2 (Prx2) are particularly important in erythroid cells. Reticulocytes and other erythroid precursors may adapt their biosynthetic mechanisms to cell defects or to changes in the bone marrow environment. Our aim was to perform a comparative study of the mRNA levels of CAT, GPX1, PRDX2 and SOD1 in reticulocytes from healthy individuals and from patients with hereditary spherocytosis (HS), sickle cell disease (SCD) and β-thalassemia (β-thal), and to study the association between their transcript levels and the reticulocyte maturity indices. In controls, the enzyme mRNA levels were significantly correlated with reticulocyte maturity indices for all genes except for SOD1. HS, SCD and β-thal patients showed younger reticulocytes, with higher transcript levels of all enzymes, although with different patterns. β-thal and HS showed similar reticulocyte maturity, with different enzyme mRNA levels; SCD and HS, with different reticulocyte maturity, presented similar enzyme mRNA levels. Our data suggest that the transcript profile for these antioxidant enzymes is not entirely related to reticulocyte maturity; it appears to also reflect adaptive mechanisms to abnormal erythropoiesis and/or to altered erythropoietic environments, leading to reticulocytes with distinct antioxidant potential according to each anemia.