Serum osteoprotegerin levels in school-aged children with asthma

Abstract

BackgroundVarious inflammatory biomarkers have been used in asthma cases for evaluating inflammation, however it has been determined that the majority of these biomarkers are insufficient for putting forth the course and severity of the disease. Osteoprotegerin is a glycoprotein mediator in the lung and macrophages. As far as we know, there are no studies about the role played by osteoprotegerin in child patients with asthma. ObjectiveIt was planned to examine the relationship between osteoprotegerin levels in childhood asthma and respiratory functions and airway inflammation and to assess its use as a biomarker. MethodsThe study included patients aged 6–16 years who were diagnosed with asthma at the pediatric allergy outpatient clinic of Bagcilar Training and Research Hospital in Turkey. The correlation analyses for the osteoprotegerin levels of asthma patients and their respiratory functions were examined. ResultsThe age average of asthma cases was 10.61±3.04 years and 51.2 % were female. No statistically significant difference was observed between the osteoprotegerin levels of the groups (p>0.05). A negative and statistically significant correlation was observed between the FEV1 and FVC values and osteoprotegerin levels (p=0.015, p=0.003). ConclusionsThis was the first study to examine the relationship between osteoprotegerin levels and airway inflammation in children with asthma. We believe that there is a need for wider scale studies in which clinical symptoms and more parameters are evaluated for defining the role played by osteoprotegerin level in children with asthma and for determining its usability as a biomarker.