Abstract
BackgroundYKL-40 is also called chitinase-3-like-1 (CHI3L1) protein and may be a marker for asthma. The aims of the present study were to investigate whether serum YKL-40 levels are stable or decreased in patients with asthma after appropriate treatment and to evaluate the correlation of YKL-40 levels with lung function and asthma control test (ACT) results.MethodsA total of 103 asthmatic patients (mean age 33.1 ± 0.9 years) with diagnosed asthma were enrolled in our study. All patients underwent a detailed clinical examination and completed the ACT questionnaire, serum YKL-40 measurement, and spirometry before (visit 1) and 8 weeks after initiation of treatment (visit 2).ResultsAt the follow-up, the median serum YKL-40 level was significantly decreased compared to the levels at visit 1 (75.2 [55.8-86.8] ng/ml versus 54.5 [46.4-58.4] ng/ml, p < 0.001). The serum YKL-40 level was negatively correlated with %FEV1 (r = -0.37, p < 0.001) and ACT score (r = -0.26, p = 0.007) at visit 1. The change in serum YKL-40 levels between the visits was significantly correlated with changes in FEV1 (r = -0.28, p = 0.006) and ACT score (r = -0.22, p = 0.037). Patients with elevated YKL-40 levels had significantly greater corticosteroid use than patients with lower levels.ConclusionsYKL-40 was reduced in the serum of asthmatic patients after appropriate treatment, and the levels correlated with improvements in %FEV1 and ACT. High levels of serum YKL-40 may be refractory to current asthma treatments.Trial registrationChiCTR-OCC-13003316Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2466-15-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
YKL-40 is called chitinase-3-like-1 (CHI3L1) protein and may be a marker for asthma
Patient characteristics This study examined 103 patients with newly diagnosed asthma (56 men, 47 women, mean age 33.1 ± 0.9)
There were several main findings of our study as follows: (i) elevated YKL-40 levels in asthma patients were associated with disease severity, and serum YKL-40 levels were deceased in asthmatic patients after administration of appropriate treatment; (ii) the serum YKL-40 level is negatively correlated with %Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and asthma control test (ACT) score before asthma treatment; (iii) these correlations were no longer observed after treatment, changes in serum YKL-40, %FEV1 and ACT score continued to correlate significantly; and (iv) patients who received Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) showed a significant improvement in serum YKL-40, %FEV1 and ACT compared with patients without ICS
Summary
YKL-40 is called chitinase-3-like-1 (CHI3L1) protein and may be a marker for asthma. Asthma is a common chronic disease characterised by acute inflammation of the airways. It is critical to identify new biomarkers to measure and monitor inflammation within the lungs of. The chitinase-like protein YKL-40 is termed chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1). It is produced at sites of inflammation in many cells and is secreted from macrophages and smooth muscle cells [4]. Previous studies have demonstrated that YKL-40 was associated with pathologic conditions characterised by aberrant cell growth, tissue inflammation and remodelling. The measurement of YKL-40 levels is useful and has diagnostic and prognostic value in several diseases [5,7,14]
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