Reduced JKAP correlates with advanced disease features, inflammation, as well as increased exacerbation risk and severity in asthmatic children.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the correlation of JNK pathway-associated phosphatase (JKAP) with clinical features, inflammation, exacerbation risk, and severity in asthmatic children. Asthmatic exacerbation children (N = 90), asthmatic remission children (N = 90), and healthy controls (N = 90) were enrolled in this case-control study, whose venous blood samples were collected after enrollment for routine blood test, JKAP, and inflammatory cytokines detection by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay. The clinical features included demographic data, family history of asthma, and pulmonary ventilation function. JKAP level was the lowest in asthmatic exacerbation children, followed by asthmatic remission children and healthy controls. ROC curve revealed good ability of JKAP in distinguishing three groups from each other, especially in telling asthmatic exacerbation children from healthy controls (AUC: 0.926; 95%CI: 0.887-0.965). In addition, JKAP was negatively correlated with eosinophil count, immunoglobulin E (IgE), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-17 (IL-17), positively correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 sec/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) and FEV1 (%predicted) in asthmatic exacerbation children. Whereas in asthmatic remission children, JKAP was negatively correlated with eosinophil count, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-17 and positively correlated with FEV1 (%predicted), but not with IgE or FEV1/FVC. In healthy controls, the correlation of JKAP with clinical features and inflammatory cytokines was non-obvious. For exacerbation severity, JKAP was the highest in mild exacerbation children, followed by moderate exacerbation children, and severe exacerbation children. JKAP serves as a potential biomarker for asthmatic susceptibility, inflammation, exacerbation risk, and severity in children.