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Polyclonal cytokine profiles differentiated asthma phenotypes
Young adults with allergic asthma demonstrated a TH2-polarized cytokine response after polyclonal stimulation, suggesting that allergic and nonallergic asthma can be differentiated by specific immune endotypes, according to researchers.
Edward Zoratti, MD, from the division of allergy and immunology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and colleagues included patients aged 18 to 21 years (n=540) from the Childhood Allergy Study. They analyzed levels of interleukin (IL) associations comparing patients with allergic vs. nonallergic asthma phenotypes with patients without asthma.
“As expected, those with allergic asthma had elevated total IgE levels and higher eosinophil counts compared with those with nonallergic asthma,” the researchers wrote.
They observed higher mean IL-5 and IL-13 secretions and lower ratios of interferon-gamma and IL-12 to 3 TH2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-5 or IL-13) in patients with allergic asthma (OR=1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.7), according to data.
Furthermore, nonallergic asthma was associated with TH1-polarized responses, including higher adjusted interferon-gamma secretion compared with patients with and without asthma (OR=2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.1).
“The present data not only extend observations of the absence of TH2-skewed immunity in nonallergic asthma but also suggest TH1-polarized responses in these patients compared with those without a diagnosis of asthma,” the researchers wrote. “This lends further support to the contention that careful phenotypic classification is important not only for therapeutic decision making, but also when conducting risk factor or outcome studies related to asthma.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.