The Clinical Significance Of Determining The Serum Interleukin 18 In Children With Bronchial Asthma During Acute Attack Stage

Objective:To investigate the Serum levels of interleukin(IL)18 in children with bronchial asthma during the stage of acute attack,and to expore the association with asthma and its clinical significance.Methods:The levels of serum IL-18 and IgE were measured by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)in the children(n=36)with asthma during both acute attack and convalescence stage;who were divided into three groups according to the severity of the disease during the stage of acute attack:mild asthma group(n=12),moderate asthma group (n=12)and severe asthma group(n=12),healthy children(n=12)served as the controls.Results:There were significant differences in levels of serum IL18 in children with bronchial asthma during the stage of acute attack among four groups by oneway ANOVA (F=195,p＜0.001),mild asthma group(246±34 pg/ml),moderate asthma group(344±40 pg/ml), severe asthma group(470±45 pg/ml),healthy children(104±26 pg/ml).Also there were significant differences in levels of serum IgE in children with bronchial asthma during the stage of acute attack among four groups by oneway ANOVA(F=200,p＜0.001),mild asthma group(143±34 IU/ml),moderate asthma group(240±34 IU/ml),severe asthma group(340±40 IU/ml),healthy children(27±19 IU/ml).Further analysis was performed for comparisons among four groups.We found significant differences in levels of serum IL18 and IgE between every two groups(p＜0.05),the serum levels of IL18 and IgE tend to increase as the severity of the disease increased in children with bronchial asthma during the stage of acute attack,by paired t-test,we found significant differences in levels of serum IL18 in the children with asthma between the stage of acute attack and convalescence(t=17.48,p＜0.001).also we found significant differences in levels of serum IgE,in the children with asthma between the stage of acute attack and convalescence(t=16.03,p＜0.001).the levels of serum IL18 and IgE during the stage of acute attack is more higher than there levels during the stage of convalescence.the serum levels of IL18 in the children with asthma during acute attack stage significantly correlated with those of IgE(r=0.974,P＜0.01),and during convalescence stage correlated with those of IgE(r=0.651, P＜0.01).Conclusion:the serum levels of IL18 in the children with bronchial asthma tend to increase as the severity of the disease during the stage of acute attack and reduce during the stage of convalescence,the serum levels of IL18 during acute attack stage significantly correlated with those of IgE.Probably chronic airway inflammation is triggered by a variety of factor,including IL18.Possibly the serum levels of IL18 have some clinical significance in judgement of the severity of asthma during the stage of acute attack and division of stagea bout bronchial asthma.