Zou Hui, Fang Qiu-Hong, Ma Ying-Min, Wang Xue-Yan
Department of Allergy, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100038, P.R. China.
Department of Pulmonary and Intensive Care Unit, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100038, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2014 Aug;8(2):573-578. doi: 10.3892/etm.2014.1759. Epub 2014 Jun 4.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), the AA and BB isoforms of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are involved in the pathogenesis of airway inflammation in asthma. In the present study, the associations between asthmatic phenotypes and the expression levels of these mediators in induced sputum and serum were investigated. A total of 62 asthmatic patients were divided into eosinophilic or neutrophilic phenotypes by cytological classification of the induced sputum. In addition, patients were classified according to lung function (FEV1/FVC >70% or FEV1/FVC <70%) and asthma severity (mild, moderate or severe). The concentrations of EGF, bFGF, PDGF-AA, PDGF-BB and VEGF in the serum and induced sputum were measured using sandwich enzyme immunoassays. VEGF levels in the serum and induced sputum were higher in patients with an eosinophilic phenotype compared with those with a neutrophilic phenotype. In addition, VEGF expression was higher in patients with an FEV1/FVC value of <70% as compared with patients with an FEV1/FVC value of >70%. Furthermore, the levels of VEGF were higher in patients with severe asthma compared with the patients with mild and moderate asthma. There were no statistically significant differences observed with regard to EGF, bFGF, PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB levels among the various phenotypes. Therefore, the observations of the present study indicated that increased VEGF expression in the serum and induced sputum of patients may be associated with eosinophilic airway inflammation, severe airflow limitation and the severity of asthma.
表皮生长因子（EGF）、碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）、血小板衍生生长因子（PDGF）的AA和BB亚型以及血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）参与哮喘气道炎症的发病机制。在本研究中，调查了哮喘表型与这些介质在诱导痰和血清中的表达水平之间的关联。通过诱导痰的细胞学分类，将62例哮喘患者分为嗜酸性粒细胞或中性粒细胞表型。此外，根据肺功能（FEV1/FVC>70%或FEV1/FVC<70%）和哮喘严重程度（轻度、中度或重度）对患者进行分类。使用夹心酶免疫测定法测量血清和诱导痰中EGF、bFGF、PDGF-AA、PDGF-BB和VEGF的浓度。与中性粒细胞表型患者相比，嗜酸性粒细胞表型患者血清和诱导痰中的VEGF水平更高。此外，与FEV1/FVC值>70%的患者相比，FEV1/FVC值<70%的患者VEGF表达更高。此外，重度哮喘患者的VEGF水平高于轻度和中度哮喘患者。在不同表型之间，EGF、bFGF、PDGF-AA和PDGF-BB水平未观察到统计学上的显著差异。因此，本研究的观察结果表明，患者血清和诱导痰中VEGF表达增加可能与嗜酸性气道炎症、严重气流受限和哮喘严重程度有关。
