哮喘患者血清IL-18的测定及其临床意义

Clinical significance of determining the serum IL-18 in asthma patients

目的哮喘被认为是TH1/TH2免疫失衡性疾病,有研究认为白细胞介素IL-18是既可诱导TH1应答又可诱导TH2应答的特殊细胞因子,与哮喘的发病有关。该研究旨在探讨IL-18与支气管哮喘的关系。方法哮喘急性发作期患者31例,临床缓解期患者18例,健康对照志愿者20例,留取清晨空腹静脉血,应用ELISA法,测量其血清IL-18的水平。结果血清IL-18的水平:急性发作组(133.23±80.29)pg/mL,临床缓解组(112.01±61.88)pg/mL,对照组(50.54±30.61)pg/mL。应用方差分析3组间有差异(P<0.001),3组间进行两两比较,临床缓解组与急性发作患者组无差异(P=0.339),急性发作患者组、临床缓解组分别与健康对照组比较,差异显著(均P<0.01)。结论IL-18与哮喘存在较大的相关性,很可能是哮喘的危险因子之一。

[Objective] At present, it has been suggested bronchial asthma was a TH1/TH2 unbalanced disease. Inter-leukin-18 （IL-18） is the only cytokine with a unique capacity to regulate not only the TH1 pathway but also the TH2 pathway, and it has been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma. The aim of the study was to evaluate how IL-18 is associated with bronchial asthma. [Methods] Serum IL-18 levels were measured in patients with acute asthma （n =31）, stable asthma （n =18） and healthy subjects （n =20） by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. [Results]There were significant differences in levels of serum IL-18 between three groups by one-way ANOVA （P 〈 0.001）,acute asthma （133.23±80.29） pg/mL, stable asthma （112.01±61.88） pg/mL, control subjects （50.54±30.61） pg/ mL Further analysis was performed for comparisons among groups. There was no significant difference in serum IL- 18 between the stable asthma and acute asthma （P =0.339）. We found significant differences in levels of serum IL-18 between acute asthma control subjects,or between stable asthma and control subjects （P equal 0.000 and 0.005）. [Conclusion] IL-18 had close correlation with asthma and may be a dangerous cytokine for asthma.