Tayel Safaa I, El-Hefnway Sally M, Abd El Gayed Eman M, Abdelaal Gehan A
Medical Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt.
Chest Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt.
Respir Res. 2017 Jan 18;18(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s12931-017-0504-2.
Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory and remodeling disorder of the airways, in which many cells, cellular elements, and cytokines play important roles. Stem cell factor (SCF) may contribute to the inflammatory changes occurring in asthma. We aimed to show the expression of SCF gene in patients with asthma as a means of diagnosis and its association with severity and atopic state in these patients.
This study was carried out on 80 subjects, 50 asthmatic patients and 30 age and gender matched healthy control persons. They were subjected to full history taking, general and local chest examination, spirometric measurements (pre and post broncodilators) using a spirometer, serum IgE, and real time PCR for assessment of SCF mRNA expression.
This study showed significant difference between the studied groups regarding pulmonary function tests (P < 0.001). Asthmatic patients had significant higher SCF expression compared to control (P < 0.001), also atopic patients vs non atopic (P = 0.03) and severe asthmatic patients vs mild ones (P < 0.001). SCF expression at cut off point (0.528) is sufficient to discriminate asthmatic patients from control while at cut off point (1.84) for discrimination of atopic patients from non-atopic patients and at cut off point (1.395) for discrimination of severe asthmatic patients from mild ones. A significant negative correlation between SCF expression and inhaled steroid while significant positive correlation with serum IgE was found.
Measuring SCF mRNA expression can be used as an efficient marker for evaluation of atopy and detection of severity of bronchial asthma.
支气管哮喘是一种气道慢性炎症和重塑性疾病，其中许多细胞、细胞成分和细胞因子发挥着重要作用。干细胞因子（SCF）可能促使哮喘发生炎症变化。我们旨在展示哮喘患者中SCF基因的表达情况，将其作为一种诊断手段，并研究其与这些患者病情严重程度及特应性状态的关联。
本研究对80名受试者进行，其中50名哮喘患者和30名年龄及性别匹配的健康对照者。对他们进行了全面的病史采集、胸部的全身及局部检查、使用肺功能仪进行肺功能测量（支气管扩张剂使用前后）、血清IgE检测以及用于评估SCF mRNA表达的实时聚合酶链反应。
本研究显示，在肺功能测试方面，研究组之间存在显著差异（P < 0.001）。与对照组相比，哮喘患者的SCF表达显著更高（P < 0.001），特应性患者与非特应性患者相比（P = 0.03），重度哮喘患者与轻度哮喘患者相比（P < 0.001）。SCF表达在截断点（0.528）足以区分哮喘患者与对照组，在截断点（1.84）用于区分特应性患者与非特应性患者，在截断点（1.395）用于区分重度哮喘患者与轻度哮喘患者。发现SCF表达与吸入性类固醇之间存在显著负相关，与血清IgE之间存在显著正相关。
测量SCF mRNA表达可作为评估特应性和检测支气管哮喘严重程度的有效标志物。
