Serum uric acid in Friedreich Ataxia

Tommaso Schirinzi, Gessica Vasco, Ginevra Zanni, Sara Petrillo, Fiorella Piemonte, Enrico Castelli, Enrico Silvio Bertini, Clinical Biochemistry, Available online 2 February 2018, ISSN 0009-9120, doi:10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.01.022.

Serum UA levels resulted significantly higher in FRDA than CTL, independently from age, gender and BMI. At the cut-off value of 4.45 mg/dl, serum UA discriminates FRDA from CTL with >70% of sensitivity and >60% of specificity. No correlations emerged with clinical data. Contrarily to other neurodegenerative diseases, in FRDA, we observed an independent increase of serum UA content. Taking in account previous experimental findings, we speculate that such a finding may result from biochemical impairment induced by the genetic defect, acting as a sort of compensatory antioxidant defense although proper dedicated studies are mandatory. This preliminary report focuses UA as a potential biomarker for FRDA and encourages further studies on novel therapeutic strategies.

 Serum uric acid in Friedreich Ataxia