Cytokine Patterns Associated with Bronchial Asthma in Saudi Patients

Abstract

Asthma is a common respiratory disease worldwide; most patients exhibit mild to moderate states of clinical severity. The aim of this study was designed to measure different cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5) levels in Saudi asthmatic patients and healthy volunteers’ serum, in addition to evaluating of the role of cytokines in clinical severity and diagnosis of bronchial asthma in Saudi patients. Through this study, 70 cases of Saudi bronchial asthma patients at different ages and case severity will be included in addition to 20 apparently healthy cases as a control. Serum cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5) levels will be measured by cytokines assay using Enzyme immunoassay. The results proved that the total levels of IL-4 and IL-5 were significantly higher in asthmatic patients than in control volunteers. Moreover, the concentrations of IL-4 in severe were significantly higher than those detected in moderate cases at different age groups for IL-4 but not in all age groups for IL-4. The Mean±SD for IL-4 in moderate was 13.55±1.25 pg/ml whereas in severe was 15.49±1.73 pg/ml while the Mean±SD of control was 7.55±1.47 pg/ml. The concentrations of IL-5 were non-significant in severe when compared with moderate cases. The Mean±SD for total IL-5 in moderate was 4.24±1.38 pg/ml whereas in severe was 4.46±1.40 pg/ml although the total Mean±SD in control was 2.29±0.37 pg/ml. Our results prove that there was a non-significant role of gender in bronchial asthma severity and there were no significant differences between serum cytokines levels in males and females in bronchial asthma. These results also expressed a significant role of IL-4 in the disease severity of asthmatic patients. Furthermore, detecting serum levels of IL-4 and IL-5 indicates the role of these cytokines in the development and pathogenesis of bronchial asthma.