Journal d'immunologie clinique et cellulaire
Libre accès
ISSN: 2155-9899
ISSN: 2155-9899
Yosuke Baba, Akina Matsuda, Yuri Takaoka, Kazuki Miyabayashi, Hiromichi Yamada, Toshiyuki Yoneyama, Susumu Yamazaki, Eisuke Inage, Yoshikazu Ohtsuka, Masato Kantake, Toshiaki Shimizu
Background: Wheezing is the dominant pathological characteristic of asthma. It is estimated that 50% of all children have experienced wheezing at least once in their first six years of life. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the initial wheezing attacks of children and to determine whether there was a connection between transient wheezing attacks and persistent wheezing.
Methods: We studied the immune responses of children who initially presented with wheezing attacks. A total of 231 children with wheezing attacks at the time of admission were enrolled in the study. The study population consisted of 68 children with wheezing episodes. Children with recurrent wheezing who were introduced to inhale steroids after 12 months were further grouped into either persistent wheezing (PW) or transient wheezing (TW) groups.
Results: At the initial onset, cytokine analysis of the children revealed a marked increase in serum soluble and transmembrane forms of interleukin receptor-2 (ST2) in PW. Contrastingly, there were no changes in the patients’ serum levels of IL-4, IL-13, and IL-33. The serum ST2 in PW was not only increased as compared to TW. However, a significant increase in ST2 expression in PW children with recurrent wheezing attacks was observed.
Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that ST2 might be a useful index for predicting the prognosis of infantile asthma. Hence, elucidation of the mechanism of ST2 expression in childhood allergic diseases is essential.