This is a very straight forward attempt to look at one of the most wide-spread inherited enzyme deficiency in human beings. It is obvious from the review that the bulk of our knowledge presently in relation to glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency is based on work done on red blood cells. Only nearly half a century on since Carson's brilliant discovery, a lot of information on this condition has been collected. The understanding of the principles behind the mechanism of haemolysis in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient patients when subjected to oxidative stress is by far the most important.
Although it is true that in most cases the haemolysis is self limiting, it is extremely difficult to predict accurately the degree of response to an oxidative stress in different glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient individuals. This is due to the existence of a wide spectrum of putative variants of this enzyme. In the more severe variants, haemolysis may sometimes occur without any evident precipitating factor but most significantly is the increased sensitivity to drugs and chemical agents. Given this potential haemolytic danger, health care professionals should always bear in mind of the adverse consequences when administering drugs to patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.
The trend of scientific work done on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency is rapidly expanding to other domains, ever since the discovery that the enzyme deficiency is not limited to red blood cells only. Many researchers have attempted to establish a link between the prevalence of this deficiency and other disease states, some successfully and others not. A higher chance of developing a plethora of common illness are now thought to be linked to glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency such as cataractogenesis and diabetes. Contrary to that, the reduced risk of developing some other illness like cancer have also been put forward. Much is left for consideration given that this phase of research is still in its infancy, so to say. Much more tests have to be carried out before the broad picture of the true significance of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in man both pharmaceutically and pathologically can be seen.
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Prepared on 01 Jan 2008 by teekoonhien |
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