Assessment of severity of bronchial asthma by studying new markers: transforming growth factor-β1 and chitinase-3-like-1

Abstract

Aim The aim of this work was to look for non-invasive biomarkers that may enable us to assess asthma severity, as a surrogate for the invasive bronchial mucosa biopsy, by studying TGF-β1 and YKL-40. Objectives TGF-β1 is used as biomarkers in the pathogenesis, prediction and follow up of asthma severity. YKL-40 has a role in airway inflammation; this relation suggests that YKL-40 and TGF-β1 can be used as biomarkers in the pathogenesis, prediction and follow-up of asthma severity. Background Defective extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover characterizes airway remodeling. Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 (TGF-β1) stimulate airway remodeling through activation of gene transcription via binding to specific subfamilies of cell trans-membrane receptors. Methods The work was done on a 60 subject aged between 20–40 years with equal sex. Classified into three groups; 20 patients with mild asthma, 20 patients with severe asthma and 20 normal subjects were taken as controls. For all subjects chest X-ray, pulmonary functions tests, allergy skin prick test, eosinophilic count, total IgE, YKL-40 and TGF-β1 in serum were performed. Results The results showed that serum TGF-β1 and serum YKL-40 between the three groups were highly significantly different (P<0.01) between the three groups in asthmatic patients compared with control group. Conclusions These variations were correlated positively with the severity of the disease indicating that their increased serum levels may be a biological characteristic of the disease exacerbation with a sentinel role in asthma.

Keywords

• asthma severity
• TGF-β1
• YKL-40