Study of serum YKL-40 in children with bronchial asthma

Abstract EN

Background: Serum YKL-40 (chitinase-3-like-1) has recently been found to be either the cause or a biomarker for asthma.

This study quantifies serum levels of YKL-40 in asthmatic children and evaluates the relationship between YKL-40 and asthma severity.

Methods: We quantified serum YKL-40 levels in two groups of asthmatic children (aged between 2 and 12 years).

Group 1 (n: 30) in between the attack (stable group) and group 2 (n: 30) during the exacerbation (acute attack group).

Serum YKL-40 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) Kits (WKEA MED SUPPLIES CORP).

We measured blood eosinophils and peak expiratory flow rate for children >5 years.

Results: Serum levels of YKL-40 were significantly elevated in the acute asthma group and in the stable asthma group compared to the control group (673.92 ± 24.23 ng/ml, 552.73± 57.34 ng/ml, 136.17± 53.14) respectively, P < 0.001.

YKL-40 levels were correlated positively with blood eosinophils in the stable group (q = 0.67, P <0.001) and in the acute attack group (q = 0.76, P <0.001).

It is inversely correlated with PEFR in the stable asthma group (q = 0.83, P <0.001) and in the acute asthma group (q= 0.88, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Serum YKL-40 protein was found in increased quantities in patients with asthma in whom the protein level correlated positively with the severity of disease so our data concluded that YKL-40 could be a valuable biomarker for asthma diagnosis and prognosis.