Elevated levels of interleukin‐33 are associated with allergic and eosinophilic asthma

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of immunology Vol. 89; no. 5; pp. e12724 - n/a
• Main Authors: Gasiuniene, Edita, Janulaityte, Ieva, Zemeckiene, Zivile, Barkauskiene, Diana, Sitkauskiene, Brigita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Asthma; IL‐33; inflammation; Leukocytes (eosinophilic); Phenotypes; asthma; phenotypes; inflammation; IL-33
• ISSN: 0300-9475; 1365-3083; 1365-3083
• DOI: 10.1111/sji.12724

IL‐33 is a recently discovered cytokine which plays an important role in asthma pathogenesis. Aim To evaluate serum IL‐33 in patients with asthma and healthy controls, and to evaluate the association of IL‐33 with different asthma phenotypes. Methods Patients with asthma (n = 115) and healthy subjects (n = 85) were included in the study. Subjects with asthma were divided into groups according to their phenotype: allergic/non‐allergic, eosinophilic/non‐eosinophilic, obese/non‐obese and severity according to GINA (mild, moderate and severe). The concentration of IL‐33 in serum was measured by standardized enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results The level of IL‐33 was significantly higher in patients with asthma when compared to healthy subjects (672.73 ± 104.47 pg/mL vs 268.52 ± 27.56 pg/mL, P < 0.05). IL‐33 was also higher in the allergic asthma group patients when compared to non‐allergic asthmatics (844.61 ± 152.08 pg/mL vs 369.56 ± 77.94 pg/mL, P < 0.05). There was a significantly higher serum IL‐33 level in the eosinophilic asthma group when compared to the group of non‐eosinophilic asthma patients (1001.10 ± 199.11 pg/mL vs 337.49 ± 72.68 pg/mL, P < 0.01). We did not find a significant difference in serum IL‐33 level between different asthma severity groups, obese and non‐obese asthmatics. Conclusion IL‐33 is increased in asthma patients, particularly in some phenotypes: allergic asthma and eosinophilic asthma.