Antczak A, Domańska-Senderowska D, Górski P, Pastuszak-Lewandoska D, Nielepkowicz-Goździńska A, Szewczyk K, Kurmanowska Z, Kiszałkiewicz J, Brzeziańska-Lasota E. Analysis of changes in expression of IL-4/IL-13/STAT6 pathway and correlation with the selected clinical parameters in patients with atopic asthma.
Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol 2016;
29:195-204. [PMID:
26781462 PMCID:
PMC5806727 DOI:
10.1177/0394632015623794]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2015] [Accepted: 11/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Asthma is associated with activation of interleukin-4 (IL-4)/interleukin-13 (IL-13)/signal transducer and activator of transcription factor-6(STAT6) inflammatory response via overexpression of all pathway components: IL-4, IL-13, and STAT6.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the association of IL-4, IL-13, and STAT6 expression and immunoexpression with atopic asthma development.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Fifty patients with atopic asthma and 20 healthy controls were enrolled into the study. Relative gene expression was analyzed by qPCR method. Immunoexpression was assessed by ELISA method.
RESULTS
The expression levels of IL-4, IL-13, and STAT6 were higher in patients compared to the controls, but a statistically significant difference was observed only for IL-13 (P = 0.03). In immunoexpression analysis, a statistically significant difference between patients and controls was found for IgE (P = 0.03). Significant positive correlations in the patient group were found between IL-13 gene expression and total level of serum IgE (rho = 0.230, P = 0.033), STAT6 gene/STAT6 protein and total level of serum IgE (STAT6: rho = 0.077, P = 0.038; STAT6: rho = 0.049, P = 0.042), IL-4, and STAT6 expression (rho = 0.098, P = 0.048). Any significant correlations were found between expression/immunoexpression levels of the studied genes and clinical classification, clinical features, or lung function parameters.
CONCLUSIONS
Our data support the role of Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-13) and STAT6 in Th1/Th2 imbalance and highlight the etiological relationship between IL-4/IL-13/STAT6 signaling and atopy and asthma.
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