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Th17 cells in Bulgarian children with chronic obstructive lung diseases
T Velikova1, S Lazova2, P Perenovska2
1Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Lozenetz, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Insights
Th17 lymphocytes are elevated in children with severe bronchial asthma (BA) but not cystic fibrosis (CF). This finding suggests potential for targeted therapies in severe BA pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Pediatrics
- Pulmonology
Background:
- Th17 lymphocytes play a role in chronic pulmonary diseases.
- Research on Th17 cells in pediatric chronic lung diseases is limited.
- Understanding Th17 cell involvement is crucial for developing targeted therapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the percentage of Th17 lymphocytes in children with chronic obstructive lung diseases.
- To compare Th17 levels between children with bronchial asthma (BA), cystic fibrosis (CF), and healthy controls.
- To assess the correlation between Th17 levels and disease severity or control in BA.
Main Methods:
- Flow cytometry was used to determine Th17 cell percentages (CD3+CD4+CD161+CCR6+) in peripheral blood.
- Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) measured serum IL-17A concentrations.
- The study included 42 children: 20 with BA, 12 with CF, and 10 healthy controls (ages 4-17).
Main Results:
- Children with BA showed a significantly higher percentage of Th17 cells (12.40±1.16%) compared to CF (7.64±0.87%) and healthy (7.25±0.45%) children.
- Severe BA cases had higher Th17 levels than moderate BA cases.
- Well-controlled BA patients had Th17 levels similar to CF patients, while poorly controlled patients had significantly higher levels.
Conclusions:
- Elevated Th17 cell percentages in severe BA pediatric patients indicate potential for targeted therapeutic interventions.
- Further research is warranted to explore the specific role of Th17 lymphocytes in pediatric chronic lung diseases.
- Findings highlight Th17 cells as a potential biomarker for disease severity in pediatric BA.
Introduction And Objectives:
Th17 lymphocytes are now widely believed to be critical in various chronic pulmonary diseases. However, there is still a small number of investigations regarding children. We aimed to assess the percentage of Th17 lymphocytes and IL-17A in peripheral blood of children with chronic obstructive lung diseases.
Patients And Methods:
We included a total of 42 children: 20 with bronchial asthma (BA), 12 with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 10 healthy children without a history of allergies, aged 4-17 years. Th17 cells (CD3+CD4+CD161+CCR6+) were determined in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. The concentration of serum IL-17A was measured by ELISA.
Results:
The BA patients had a significantly higher percentage of Th17 (12.40±1.16%) compared to the CF children (7.64±0.87%, p=0.0035) and healthy (7.25±0.45%, p=0.008). Stratifying the BA group, we found higher levels of Th17 in patients with severe BA (p=0.03), whereas patients with moderate BA had Th17 cells close to those in CF and healthy children. We found that patients with better control of BA had Th17 closer to those with CF (p=0.98) than BA children with poor control (p<0.001) (post hoc, Bonferroni correction). CF patients with concomitant P. aeruginosa infection showed slightly higher percentages of Th17 cells than those without infection (8.08±3.09% vs. 6.25±2.42%, p=0.294).
Conclusions:
The percentage of Th17 cells was significantly increased in the peripheral blood of children with severe BA compared to the children with moderate BA, which suggests that the former could possibly benefit from future target therapies.
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