Study On The Correlation Between The Levels Of Il-18, IL-33 And Other Inflammatory Factors And Pulmonary Function In Different Stages Of Asthma

Objective: To investigate the levels of some inflammatory factors including interleukin(IL)-18, interleukin(IL)-33, eosinophils(EOS), immunoglobulin(Ig)E, interferon(IFN)-γ, high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) and pulmonary function in bronchial asthma patients. Study on the correlation between the level of those factors and the level of pulmonary function,and analyze the role of IL-18 and IL-33 in clinical diagnosis.Methods: The blood samples and clinical data from the 45 asthma patients in acute attack period and in remission period were collected. The serum levels of IL-18, IL-33, IgE, IFN-γwere detected by the method of ELISA. Also the data of the blood routine test and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were collected. While the blood samples of 25 healthy non-asthmas people were also collected to study as a control group. All patients were taken pulmonary function tests before and after glucocorticoid treatment to determine the level of FEV₁, FEV₁%pre, FEV₁/FVC%, FEF50%pre, FEF75%pre, FEF25-75%pre and Raw%pre. Correlation between the inflammatory factors such as IL-18 and IL-33 and lung function were analyzed as well.Results:The results in our study were as below: first, the level of serum IL-18 in asthma patients was significantly higher than that in control group(P<0.05), and the level of serum IL-18 in acute asthmatic attack period was significantly higher than that in remission period (P<0.05); second, the levels of serum IL-33 and IgE in acute asthmatic attack period were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.05), and the level of serum IL-33 in acute asthmatic attack period was significantly higher than that in remission period (P<0.05); third, the levels of serum hs-CRP in patients with acute asthmatic attack period was significantly higher than that in control group(P<0.05); fourth, the levels of serum IL-18, IL-33, IgE, EOS,EOS%, hs-CRP in asthmatic patients were positive correlation; fifth, the pulmonary function indicated that the levels of FEV₁, FEV₁%pre, FEV₁/FVC%, FEF50%pre, FEF75%pre and FEF25-75%pre in acute asthmatic attack period was significantly higher than that in remission period (P<0.05); and the levels of FEV₁ and other pulmonary function index in patients after glucocorticoid treatment were significantly higher than pretreatment(P<0.05), whereas the level of Raw%pre decreased significantly than pretreatment(P<0.05); sixth, the prominent negative correlations were seen between the levels of IL-18, IL-33 and the level of FEV₁%pre both in acute asthmatic attack period and in remission period; meanwhile, there were significant difference of the levels of IL-18 and IL-33 in mild group, moderate group and severe group of pulmonary function; and there were distinct negative correlations between the levels of IgE, hs-CRP, eosinophils and the level of FEV₁%pre.Conclusions: IL-18 and IL-33 are related to the pathogenesis of asthma. And distinct correlations exist between the levels of IL-18, IL-33 and pulmonary function in asthma patients. Thus, these inflammatory factors could be used to effectively evaluate the severity of asthma.