Chemico-Biological Interactions 127 (2000) 125 – 137 Autoantibody against oxidized low-density lipoproteins may be enhanced by cigarette smoking Chin-Shan Liu a , Chong-Kuei Lii b , Chu-Chyn Ou b , Chung-Hung Tsai c , Yau-Huei Wei d , Haw-Wen Chen b, * a Department of Neurology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan 500, ROC b Department of Nutrition, Chung Shan Medical College, 110, Section 1, Chien Kuo N. Road, Taichung, Taiwan 402, ROC c Department of Pathology, Chung Shan Medical College and Chung Shan Memorial Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 402, ROC d Department of Biochemistry and Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Yang -Ming Uniersity, Taipei, Taiwan 112, ROC Received 6 March 2000; received in revised form 17 April 2000; accepted 17 April 2000 Abstract A total of 59 healthy male subjects (32 smokers and 27 nonsmokers) who had no reported systemic disease and did not take alcohol and vitamin supplementation were included. The levels of autoantibody to oxidized low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDL) in smokers and age-matched nonsmokers were compared. The plasma levels of antioxidants that can affect the formation of ox-LDL were also measured, and correlation analyses between anti ox-LDL IgG and plasma antioxidants, controlling for age and body mass index (BMI), were performed. Plasma -tocopherol and uric acid concentrations of nonsmokers (2.78 1.09 g/mg total lipid and 6.96 1.69 mg/dl, respectively) were significantly higher than those of smokers (1.68 0.48 g/mg total lipid and 6.15 1.14 mg/dl, respectively) (P 0.05). Although plasma ascorbate and retinol levels were not significantly different between smokers and nonsmokers, smokers older than 45 years old had significantly lower plasma ascorbate levels (0.32 0.17 mg/dl) than age-matched nonsmokers (0.53 0.14 mg/dl) (P =0.036). Higher level of plasma anti ox-LDL IgG was noted in the group of smokers compared with nonsmokers (515 409 mU/ml vs. 407 268 mU/ml, respectively) under the www.elsevier.com/locate/chembiont * Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-4-3248175; fax: +886-4-4739030. E-mail address: hawwen@mercury.csmc.edu.tw (H.-W. Chen). 0009-2797/00/$ - see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0009-2797(00)00173-3