Serum Level of TNF-alpha and Soluble TNF Receptor I in Infants with RDS and Their Significance as a Prospective Indicator for Development of Infantile Asthma

Pyun, Bok Yang; Lee, Woo Ryoung

Abstract

PURPOSE
Many cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-6, IL-1 influence the inflammatory response in acute and chronic respiratory inflammation. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha is a pleiotropic mediator of many inflammatory responses. Soluble TNF receptor acts in a antiinflammatory manner by inhibit the function of TNF. In order to investigate the role of TNF-alpha and sTNF-RI to develop the chronic airway inflammation in RDS and asthma, We measured the serum levels of TNF-alpha and sTNF-RI in the patients with respiratory distress syndrome, bronchial asthma and normal healthy controls.
METHODS
Total 24 subjects (10 of RDS neonates, 6 of health newborn infants, and 8 of infantile asthma) who admitted to our pediatric department of Soonchunhyang university were enrolled to our study. The serum levels of TNF-alpha and soluble sTNF-RI were measured by EIA kit (Quantikine human TNF-alpha Immunoassay, Catalog number DTA50, and Quantikine human sTNF RI Immunoassay, Catalog Number DRT100, R&D).
RESULTS
The serum levels of TNF-alpha in the patients with respiratory distress syndrome, bronchial asthma, and normal healthy controls were 4.96+/-3.32 pg/mL, 5.65+/-5.85 pg/mL, 2.95+/-2.33 pg/mL (mean+/-SD), respectively. There was no statistically significance between each group (P=0.732, P=0.367, P=0.255). The serum levels of soluble sTNF-RI in the patients with respiratory distress, bronchial asthma, and normal healthy controls were 156.1+/-166.4 pg/mL, 120.3+/-134.1 pg/mL, 33.3+/-10.7 pg/mL, respectively. There was no statistically significance between each group (P=0.469, P=0.102, P=0.326). There were significant correlation between TNF-alpha and sTNF-RI in the group of normal healthy controls (r=0.9534, P=0.0032,). But, there was no significant correlation between TNF-alpha and sTNF-RI in the group of respiratory distress syndrome (r=0.5940, P=0.0702).
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, it is suggested that disturbance of the ratio of TNF-alpha to sTNF-RI play a role as a factor to persist pulmonary inflammation which lead to a development of bronchial asthma.