Soluble interleukin-2 receptor and interleukin-4 in sera of asthmatic children before and after a prednisolone course.
BACKGROUND
Cytokine-mediated interactions among inflammatory cells may play a role in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma.


OBJECTIVE
To understand the role of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in the disease activity of acute asthma, changes in serum concentrations of sIL-2R and IL-4 elaborated by activated T-lymphocyte before and after prednisolone therapy with clinical improvement were determined in the present study.


METHODS
Circulating levels of sIL-2R and IL-4 in sera from 15 normal control subjects and in sera from 20 allergic asthmatic children with acute exacerbation and in a stable condition were determined by using commercially available ELISA kits.


RESULTS
The mean concentration of serum sIL-2R was significantly higher in acute exacerbation than in children with stable asthma (368.9 +/- 395.4 pg/mL vs 291.2 +/- 361.0 pg/mL; P < .01) or in control subjects (124.6 +/- 17.8 pg/mL; P < .001). The mean concentration of serum IL-4 was higher in acute exacerbation (5.82 +/- 1.10 pg/mL) and in stable asthmatic patients (6.73 +/- 2.83 pg/mL) versus control group subjects (5.54 +/- 1.20 pg/mL). However, the difference was not statistically significant among the three study groups.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides further evidence that changes in serum IL-2R may serve as an objective indicator for clinical outcome of allergic asthmatic patients.
Tang
R B
RB
Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, ROC. rbtang@vghtpe.gov.tw
Chen
S J
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood*; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4; D011239:Prednisolone