TY  - EJOU
AU  - Brandolini, Laura 
AU  - Allegretti, Marcello 
AU  - Berdini, Valerio 
AU  - Cervellera, Maria Neve 
AU  - Mascagni, Patrizia 
AU  - Rinaldi, Matteo 
AU  - Melillo, Gabriella 
AU  - Ghezzi, Pietro 
AU  - Mengozzi, Manuela 
AU  - Bertini, Riccardo 

TI  - Carbocysteine lysine salt monohydrate (SCMC-LYS) is a selective scavenger of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs)
T2  - European Cytokine Network

PY  - 2003
VL  - 14
IS  - 1
SN  - 1952-4005

AB  - Carbocysteine lysine salt monohydrate (SCMC-Lys) is a well-known mucoactive drug whose
therapeutic efficacy is commonly related to the ability of SCMC-Lys to replace fucomucins by sialomucins. The
aim of this study was to determine if SCMC-Lys could exert an anti-oxidant action by scavenging reactive oxygen
intermediates (ROIs). Our results show that SCMC-Lys proved effective as a selective scavenger of hypochlorous
acid (HOCl) and hydroxyl radical (OH•
), this effect being related to the reactivity of the SCMC tioether group.
The scavenger activity of SCMC-Lys was observed in free cellular system as well as in activated human
polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). SCMC-Lys scavenger activity on HOCl was paralleled by a powerful
protection from HOCl-mediated inactivation of a1-antitripsin (a1-AT) inhibitor, the main serum protease
inhibitor. Production of interleukin-(IL-)8, a major mediator of PMN recruitment in inflammatory diseases, is
known to be mediated by intracellular OH•
. SCMC-Lys significantly reduced IL-8 production on stimulated
human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in the same range of concentrations affecting OH• activity.
It is concluded that SCMC-Lys could exert, in addition to its mucoactive capacity, an anti-oxidant action, thus
contributing to the therapeutic efficacy of SCMC-Lys.
KW  - SCMC-Lys; reactive oxygen intermediates; scavenger activity; polymorphonuclear neutrophils; interleukin-8

DO  -