Expression and clinical significance of signal transducer and activator of transcription-1, interferon regulatory factor-1, and interferon-γ in children with bronchial asthma

Abstract

Objective To study the expression profiles of signal transducer and activator of transcription-1(STAT1), interferon regulatory factor-1(IRF1), and interferon-γ(IFN-γ) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in children with bronchial asthma, in order to further study their roles in the pathogenesis of asthma. Methods Thirty-eight children with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma who visited pediatric outpatient clinic or hospitalized in pediatric department from September 2017 to May 2018 were enrolled as the asthma group.After standardized treatment, the 38 children with asthma were divided into the effective asthma treatment group(n=23) and the ineffective asthma treatment group(n=15), according to the treatment effect.Twenty-five healthy children were enrolled as the control group.RT-PCR and Western blot were used to measure the mRNA and protein expression levels of STAT1, IRF1, and IFN-γ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.The correlations between the mRNA and protein expression of STAT1, IRF1, and IFN-γ were analyzed. Results The asthma group, the effective asthma treatment group and the ineffective asthma treatment group had significantly higher mRNA and protein expression levels of STAT1 and IRF1 than those of the control group (P<0.05). The ineffective asthma treatment group had significantly higher mRNA and protein expression levels of IRF1 than those of the effective asthma treatment group (P<0.05). The asthma group, the effective asthma treatment group and the ineffective asthma treatment group had significantly lower mRNA and protein expression levels of INF-γ than those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion The expression level of STAT1 increases in children with asthma, while the expression level of IFN-γ decreases in those children.The expression level of IRF1 increases in children with asthma and is closely related to the treatment effectiveness. Key words: Bronchial asthma; Signal transducer and activator of transcription-1; Interferon regulator factor-1; Interferon-γ; Children