Journal of Asthma and Allergy (Mar 2022)

Difference of Serum Cytokine Profile in Allergic Asthma Patients According to Disease Severity

  • Sun L,
  • Peng B,
  • Zhou J,
  • Wang P,
  • Mo Y,
  • Xu G,
  • Tao Y,
  • Song H,
  • Tang W,
  • Jin M

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 315 – 326

Abstract

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Lin Sun,1– 3,* Bo Peng,1– 3,* Jun Zhou,1– 3 Ping Wang,1 Yuqing Mo,4 Guofang Xu,1 Yi Tao,1 Hejie Song,1– 3 Wei Tang,1– 3 Meiling Jin4 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanghai Key Laboratory of Emergency Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Infectious Diseases, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Wei Tang, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Meiling Jin, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Allergic asthma is a heterogeneous disease with complex underlying mechanisms. Cytokines are key mediators in immune system and potential indicators of disease status. The aim of this study is to compare the difference of serum cytokine profile in allergic asthma patients with different disease severity and explore candidate biomarkers for disease monitoring and targeting therapeutic agents.Patients and Methods: A total of 40 allergic asthmatics (mild, n=22; moderate-to-severe, n=18) were included in this study. Serum samples, lung function and exhaled nitric oxide data were collected from each subject. A Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) electrochemiluminescence platform was applied to access serum levels of 33 cytokines. Serum cytokine profile was compared between mild and moderate-to-severe allergic asthmatics, and the correlation between serum cytokine levels, lung function and exhaled nitric oxide were analyzed.Results: Moderate-to-severe allergic asthmatics displayed higher levels of eotaxin-1, eotaxin-2, MCP-1, MCP-2, MCP-3, YKL-40 and lower IL-23, IL-31 and TRAIL in serum in comparison with mild allergic asthmatics. Serum YKL-40, eotaxin-1 and MCP-1 had the best ability to discriminate mild and moderate-to-severe allergic asthmatics, with an AUC of 0.833, 0.811 and 0.760. Serum IP-10 was positively correlated with FeNO levels, while FnNO displayed a strong positive correlation with serum IL-25.Conclusion: Compared with mild allergic asthmatics, significant increase in serum eotaxin-1, eotaxin-2, MCP-1, MCP-2, MCP-3, YKL-40 and decrease in serum IL-23, IL-31 and TRAIL was noted in moderate-to-severe allergic asthmatics. YKL-40, eotaxin-1 and MCP-1 might be candidate biomarkers in reflecting severity in allergic asthma patients.Keywords: allergic asthma, cytokine, YKL-40, eotaxin, MCP

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