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Comparative Study
. 2015 Jan 24;16(1):5.
doi: 10.1186/s12931-014-0163-5.

Anti-inflammatory deficiencies in neutrophilic asthma: reduced galectin-3 and IL-1RA/IL-1β

Peng Gao  1   2   3 , Peter G Gibson  4   5   6 , Katherine J Baines  7   8 , Ian A Yang  9   10 , John W Upham  11   12 , Paul N Reynolds  13   14 , Sandra Hodge  15   16 , Alan L James  17   18 , Christine Jenkins  19 , Matthew J Peters  20   21 , Jie Zhang  22 , Jodie L Simpson  23   24
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Anti-inflammatory deficiencies in neutrophilic asthma: reduced galectin-3 and IL-1RA/IL-1β

Peng Gao et al. Respir Res. .

Abstract

Background: Galectin-3 (gal-3), a member of the β-galactoside-binding animal lectins, is involved in the recruitment, activation and removal of neutrophils. Neutrophilic asthma is characterized by a persistent elevation of airway neutrophils and impaired efferocytosis. We hypothesized that sputum gal-3 would be reduced in neutrophilic asthma and the expression of gal-3 would be associated with other markers of neutrophilic inflammation.

Methods: Adults with asthma (n = 80) underwent a sputum induction following clinical assessment and blood collection. Sputum was dispersed for a differential cell count and ELISA assessment of gal-3, gal-3 binding protein (BP), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1 receptor antagonist (RA), IL-8 and IL-6. Gal-3 and gal-3BP immunoreactivity were assessed in mixed sputum cells.

Results: Sputum gal-3 (median, (q1,q3)) was significantly reduced in neutrophilic asthma (183 ng/mL (91,287)) compared with eosinophilic (293 ng/mL (188,471), p = 0.021) and paucigranulocytic asthma (399 ng/mL (213,514), p = 0.004). The gal-3/gal-3BP ratio and IL-1RA/IL-1β ratio were significantly reduced, while gal-3BP and IL-1β were significantly elevated in neutrophilic asthma compared with eosinophilic and paucigranulocytic asthma.

Conclusion: Patients with neutrophilic asthma have impairment in anti-inflammatory ratio of gal-3/gal-3BP and IL-1RA/IL-1β which provides a further framework for exploration into pathologic mechanisms of asthma phenotypes.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Induced sputum concentrations of inflammatory mediators in asthmatic inflammatory subtypes. Gal-3 (A) was decreased, gal-3BP (B) was increased and the gal-3 to gal-3BP ratio (C) was decreased in NA. IL-1RA (D) was not different, IL-1β (E) was increased and the IL-1RA to IL-1β ratio (F) was reduced in NA. IL-6 (G) and IL-8 (H) were both increased in NA. Group comparisons were conducted using analysis of variance with least significant difference (LSD) post hoc test after being log-transformed and adjusted by age and BMI. The horizontal bar denotes median value. NA; neutrophilic asthma, PGA; paucigranulocytic asthma, EA; eosinophilic asthma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sputum cells from; A) neutrophilic, B) eosinophilic and C) paucigranulocytic asthma stained for gal-3 (green) and gal-3BP (red) with nuclear DAPI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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