Cytokine Patterns Associated with Bronchial Asthma in Saudi Patients

Research Article

Austin Immunol. 2023; 6(1): 1020.

Cytokine Patterns Associated with Bronchial Asthma in Saudi Patients

Al-Saadi Omar¹*; Alahmadey Ziab²*; Alblihshi Omar¹*

¹Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

²Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

*Corresponding author: Al-Saadi Omar & Alblihshi Omar Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Madinah, Saudi Arabia; Alahmadey Ziab, Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Tel: +0966504532930 Email: net_x99x@hotmail.com

Received: October 30, 2023 Accepted: November 30, 2023 Published: December 07, 2023

Abstract

Asthma is a common respiratory disease worldwide; most patients exhibit mild to moderate states of clinical severity. The aim of this study was designed to measure different cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5) levels in Saudi asthmatic patients and healthy volunteers’ serum, in addition to evaluating of the role of cytokines in clinical severity and diagnosis of bronchial asthma in Saudi patients. Through this study, 70 cases of Saudi bronchial asthma patients at different ages and case severity will be included in addition to 20 apparently healthy cases as a control. Serum cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5) levels will be measured by cytokines assay using Enzyme immunoassay. The results proved that the total levels of IL-4 and IL-5 were significantly higher in asthmatic patients than in control volunteers. Moreover, the concentrations of IL-4 in severe were significantly higher than those detected in moderate cases at different age groups for IL-4 but not in all age groups for IL-4. The Mean±SD for IL-4 in moderate was 13.55±1.25 pg/ml whereas in severe was 15.49±1.73 pg/ml while the Mean±SD of control was 7.55±1.47 pg/ml. The concentrations of IL-5 were non-significant in severe when compared with moderate cases. The Mean±SD for total IL-5 in moderate was 4.24±1.38 pg/ml whereas in severe was 4.46±1.40 pg/ml although the total Mean±SD in control was 2.29±0.37 pg/ml. Our results prove that there was a non-significant role of gender in bronchial asthma severity and there were no significant differences between serum cytokines levels in males and females in bronchial asthma. These results also expressed a significant role of IL-4 in the disease severity of asthmatic patients. Furthermore, detecting serum levels of IL-4 and IL-5 indicates the role of these cytokines in the development and pathogenesis of bronchial asthma.

Keywords: Asthma; Interlukein-4; Interlukein-5; EIA; cytokines

Introduction

Asthma is the most common serious chronic lung disease developed due to a combination of strong genetic and environmental factors. It has a high prevalence in industrialized as well as in developing countries [1]. Asthma prevalence has been increasing to epidemic levels, especially in areas with high urbanization. Over 300 million people worldwide are affected by asthma, with a high negative impact on quality of life, productivity, and health care costs [2]. Allergic asthma (atopic asthma) is the most common, accounting for 90% of cases less than 30 years of age [3].

Cytokines play an integral role in the coordination and persistence of inflammatory processes in chronic inflammation of the airways of asthmatic patients [4]. Cytokines are small, extracellular signaling proteins usually less than 80 KD [4]. Based on the recent understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma, cytokines are classified into (i) lymphokines, (ii) pro-inflammatory cytokines, (iii) anti-inflammatory cytokines, and (iv) chemokines [4]. Allergen-induced IgE synthesis can trigger eosinophils, basophils, and mast cells to release cytokines for the differentiation of progenitor Th cells into Th2 cells to secrete IL-4 and IL-5. Moreover, basophils, mast cells, and eosinophils act as effectors of allergic inflammation through the release of pro-inflammatory, vasoactive, and fibrogenic factors (histamine, peptide leukotrienes, platelet-activating factor, tryptase, chymase, etc.) that are responsible for symptoms of bronchial asthma [5].

For assessing the presence of allergen-specific IgE antibodies, two different methods can be used, a skin pricks test or an allergy blood test. Both methods are recommended and have similar diagnostic values in terms of sensitivity and specificity [7,8].

This study was designed to determine the circulating patterns of cytokines in bronchial asthma of Saudi patients in relation to age and gender as well as disease severity, to record the serum levels of different cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5) in Saudi asthmatic patients, and to evaluate the role of cytokines in pathogenesis and diagnosis of bronchial asthma.

Materials and Methods

A total of 90 blood samples were involved in this study, out of them 70 blood samples were collected from asthmatic patients at different ages and genders as well as case severity (moderate or severe). In addition, 20 blood samples were collected from control volunteers. These samples were collected from King Fahd Hospital in Medinah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The samples were classified according to age, disease severity, and gender. Asthmatic blood samples were 38 moderate and 32 severe cases, based on patients' gender 34 and 36 were male and female respectively. Regarding to age groups the asthmatic patients and controls were classified into 7 age groups starting from age groups (10-<20), (20-<30), (30-<40), (40-<50), (50-<60) and (= 60) years as presented in Table (1).