ROLE AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IL-33 IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA

Abstract

Introduction. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways in which many cells play a role with secreting a variety of mediators responsible for the clinical manifestation of asthma. It is assumed that IL-33 is one of the earliest-released mediators and can orchestrate the immune cascade of the disease. The aimof this study was to examine the role and clinical significance of IL-33 as a new and insufficiently explored mediator of inflammation in patients with uncontrolled moderate asthma. Methods. The study included 87 patients with asthma. Serum IL-33 was measured in all patients by ELISA method. The obtained data were statistically analyzedusing the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and ShapiroWilk's test. Qualitative data were presented in absolute and relative numbers, and quantitative data were presented with measures of descriptive statistics. Statistically significant values were considered for p <0.05. Results. Majority of included patients were female (75.86%). The average age of patients was 42.3±15.9 years. The results of IL-33 in all patients were significantly increased compared to the reference value of IL-33 which is 0 pg/ml. The average values of IL-33 ranged from 6.47±29.3 and they were insignificantly higher in the group with female patients compared to males (p=0.27), and insignificantly correlated with age (p=0.26). Conclusion. Even though a limited number of studies have explored the IL-33, results have shown higher serum level of IL-33 in asthma patients compared to healthy people, emphasizing the fact that IL-33 is an attractive candidate for targeted therapy and prognosis in asthma patients.