Asia Pac Allergy.  2015 Oct;5(4):210-215. 10.5415/apallergy.2015.5.4.210.

Interleukin-10 and interleukin-5 balance in patients with active asthma, those in remission, and healthy controls

• Tomiita M
• Campos-Alberto E
• Shima M
• Namiki M
• Sugimoto K
• Kojima H
• Watanabe H
• Sekine K
• Nishimuta
• Kohno Y
• Shimojo N

• KMID: 2397037
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5415/apallergy.2015.5.4.210

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The immunological mechanisms of asthma remission remain unclear although several reports have suggested that balance between T helper (Th) 2 cytokines and regulatory cytokines is related.
OBJECTIVE
To study the balance between interleukin (IL) 10 and IL-5 in asthma clinical remission.
METHODS
We measured the numbers of IL-5 and IL-10 producing cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with mite antigen obtained from patients with active asthma (group A, n = 18), patients in clinical remission (group R, n = 15) and nonatopic healthy controls (group H, n = 14).
RESULTS
The numbers of IL-5 producing cells in groups A and R were significantly higher than in group H. The number of IL-5 producing cells was lower in group R than in group A, although the difference was not statistically significant. The number of IL-10 producing cells was higher in group R than in group A, although again the difference was not statistically significant. There was a significant difference in the number of IL-10 producing cells between groups A and H but not between groups R and H. The ratio of the number of IL-10 to IL-5 producing cells was highest in group H followed by groups R and A, and the differences were statistically significant for each pair of groups.
CONCLUSION
Our study suggests that the IL-10/IL-5 balance is related to clinical asthma. The balance differs between patients in clinical remission and healthy controls, suggesting that allergic inflammation may continue even after clinical asthma remission.

Keyword

Asthma; Child; Interleukin-10; Interleukin-5; Prognosis; Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell

MeSH Terms

Asthma*
Child
Cytokines
Humans
Inflammation
Interleukin-10*
Interleukin-5*
Interleukins
Mites
Prognosis
Cytokines
Interleukin-10
Interleukin-5
Interleukins