title: Plasma antibodies against heat shock protein 70 correlate with the incidence and severity of asthma in a Chinese population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The heat shock proteins (Hsps) are induced by stresses such as allergic factors and inflammatory responses in bronchi epithelial cells and therefore may be detectable in patients with asthma. However, the etiologic link between anti-Hsps and asthma (its severity and related inflammatory responses such as interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin E) has not been established. We determined whether antibodies against Hsp60 and Hsp70 were present in patients with asthma and evaluated their associations with risk and severity of asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  We determined the levels of anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 by immunoblot and their associations with risk and symptom severity of asthma in 95 patients with asthma and 99 matched non-symptomatic controls using multivariate logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to the controls, asthma patients were more likely to have detectable anti-Hsp60 (17.2% vs 5.1%) and anti-Hsp70 (33.7% vs 8.1%) (p < or = 0.001). In particular, the presence of anti-Hsp70 was associated with a greater than 2 fold risk for asthma (adjusted OR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.35 approximately 3.59). Furthermore, both anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 levels were positively correlated with symptom severity (p < 0.05) as well as interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin E (p < 0.05). Individuals with antibodies against anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 were more likely to have a family history of asthma (p < 0.001) and higher plasma concentrations of total immunoglobulin E (p = 0.001) and interleukin-4 (p < 0.05) than those without antibodies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that anti-Hsp60 and especially anti-Hsp70 correlate with the attacks and severity of asthma. The underlying molecular mechanisms linking antibodies to heat shock proteins and asthma remain to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. y2000yangmiao@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tangchun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Longxian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qingyi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Tanguay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins