title: Serum decoy receptor 3 is a biomarker for disease severity in nonatopic asthma patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a soluble receptor of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, is a pleiotropic immunomodulator. The aim of this study was to investigate serum DcR3 levels in atopic and nonatopic asthma patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The serum DcR3 levels of 70 adults with asthma and 20 healthy controls were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The asthma patients were divided into atopic and nonatopic subgroups, based on the presence or absence of immunoglobulin E (IgE) specific to allergen. Correlations between serum DcR3 levels and blood total-eosinophil counts, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC), and Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean serum DcR3 level was significantly higher in asthma patients than in healthy controls (266.1 ± 60.6 pg/mL vs. 63.7 ± 21.9 pg/mL, p = 0.003), but there was no significant difference between the mean serum DcR3 level of asthma patients with atopy (37 patients) and patients without atopy (33 patients; 298.7 ± 111.2 pg/mL vs. 230.6 ± 38.5 pg/mL, p = 0.064). However, the serum DcR3 level was positively correlated with the total eosinophil count (r = 0.448, p = 0.012) and inversely correlated with the percentages of predicted FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and ACT score (r = 0.409, p = 0.018; r = -0.399, p = 0.021; and r = -0.505, p = 0.003, respectively) in nonatopic asthma patients, but not in atopic patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High serum DcR3 levels are associated with disease severity in nonatopic asthma patients, which suggests that DcR3 is a potential biomarker that can be used to predict the severity of nonatopic asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Han
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Tsai
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Kuang
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Section of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Cheng Hsin Rehabilitation Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shinn-Shing
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Critical Care, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jia-Horng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute for Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: slhsieh@gate.sinica.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shie-Liang
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hsieh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053323:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Member 6b / Q000097:blood*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053323:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Member 6b; C505911:TNFRSF6B protein, human; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: ACT score; FEV1; asthma; decoy receptor 3; total eosinophil count