Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2009 Dec;19(4):420-428.

Clinical Implication of Sputum CXCL13 in Children with Asthma

• Baek JY
• Choi BS
• Lee YJ
• Park YH
• Kim KW
• Sohn MH
• Kim KE

Abstract

PURPOSE
CXCL13 is known to be a chemokine delivering B cell to the secondary lymphatic follicles, such as spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches. Recently, there have been some reports that CXCL13 is important for T cell inflammation and expressed by Th17 cell which produces IL-17. This study attempted to examine the clinical implication of CXCL13 in children with asthma.
METHODS
This study included a total of 160 children aged 6 to 15 years who visited Severance Children's Hospital. There were 80 children with asthma and 80 children without. The pulmonary function test and the methacholine challenge test were performed. Total eosinophil count, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and total IgE in serum and eosinophils, ECP and CXCL13 in sputum were measured.
RESULTS
The mean age of the subjects was 8.3+/-2.3 years for the asthma group and 9.3+/-2.5 years for the control group. The male to female ratio was 67.5% and 55.0% respectively. The sputum CXCL13 level for the asthma group was significantly higher than that level for the control group (P=0.003). This significance persisted even after adjustment for age and sex (P=0.010). The sputum CXCL13 level showed a positive correlation with that of sputum eosinophils (r=0.190, P=0.017) and ECP (r=0.285, P=0.002).
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that CXCL13 may play an important role in the pathophysiology of asthma related to eosinophilic inflammation. Further studies on sputum CXCL13 could help to reveal the role of chemokines in asthma.

Keyword

Asthma; Chemokine; CXCL13; Eosinophil; ECP

MeSH Terms

Aged
Asthma
Chemokines
Child
Eosinophil Cationic Protein
Eosinophils
Female
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Inflammation
Interleukin-17
Lymph Nodes
Male
Methacholine Chloride
Peyer's Patches
Respiratory Function Tests
Spleen
Sputum
Th17 Cells
Chemokines
Eosinophil Cationic Protein
Immunoglobulin E
Interleukin-17
Methacholine Chloride