Department of Immunology and Allergy, Medical University of Lodz, Poland ul. Pomorska 251, 92-213, Lodz, Poland.
Department of Immunology and Infectious Biology, Institute of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Immunology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
Respir Res. 2021 Jun 10;22(1):177. doi: 10.1186/s12931-021-01769-x.
The course of asthma may differ between elderly asthmatics (EA) and non-elderly asthmatics (nEA), which may be partially associated with an age-dependent aberrant immune response. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of serum miRNA expression on asthma characteristics and systemic inflammation markers in EA and nEA.
Control and severity of asthma, pulmonary function and FeNO were assessed in 28 EA and 31 nEA patients. The control group included 59 elderly and non-elderly healthy individuals. The expression of selected miRNAs in serum was measured with rt-PCR, and proinflammatory cytokine activity was assayed by ELISA or flow cytometry.
No difference in serum miRNA expression was observed between the asthmatics and healthy controls. EA demonstrated lower expression of miRNA-106a and miRNA-126a than nEA (p = 0.003 and p = 0.02) and EC had lower expression of miRNA-146a, -126a, -106a and 19b than nEC (p = 0.001, p = 0.003, p = 0.005 and p < 0.001 respectively). Only nEA demonstrated a relationship between the expression of selected miRNAs and the level of asthma control (assessed with ACT) and with airway inflammation, measured by FeNO level. All patients with asthma demonstrated elevated TNFα, IL-6 and sTNF RI levels compared to controls (p = 0.026, p = 0.03 and p < 0.001 respectively). EA demonstrated a higher TNFα level than EC (p < 0.001), and EA had a higher level of sTNF RI than nEA (p < 0.001). A significant correlation was observed between serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines and selected miRNAs.
Serum miRNA expression was found to correlate with clinical characteristics of asthma and systemic inflammation in an age-dependent fashion, suggesting that miRNA may differentially contribute to asthma pathogenesis in elderly and non-elderly patients.
老年哮喘患者（EA）和非老年哮喘患者（nEA）的哮喘病程可能不同，这可能部分与年龄相关的异常免疫反应有关。本研究旨在确定血清 miRNA 表达对 EA 和 nEA 中哮喘特征和全身炎症标志物的影响。
评估了 28 例 EA 和 31 例 nEA 患者的对照和哮喘严重程度、肺功能和 FeNO。对照组包括 59 名老年和非老年健康个体。采用 rt-PCR 测定血清中选定 miRNA 的表达，并通过 ELISA 或流式细胞术测定促炎细胞因子的活性。
哮喘患者和健康对照者之间血清 miRNA 表达无差异。与 nEA 相比，EA 中 miRNA-106a 和 miRNA-126a 的表达较低（p=0.003 和 p=0.02），EC 中 miRNA-146a、-126a、-106a 和 19b 的表达也较低（p=0.001、p=0.003、p=0.005 和 p<0.001）。只有 nEA 中，所选 miRNA 的表达与哮喘控制（用 ACT 评估）和 FeNO 水平所测气道炎症之间存在相关性。与对照组相比，所有哮喘患者的 TNFα、IL-6 和 sTNF RI 水平均升高（p=0.026、p=0.03 和 p<0.001）。与 EC 相比，EA 的 TNFα 水平更高（p<0.001），与 nEA 相比，EA 的 sTNF RI 水平更高（p<0.001）。促炎细胞因子的血清水平与选定的 miRNA 之间存在显著相关性。
血清 miRNA 表达与哮喘的临床特征和年龄相关的全身炎症呈相关性，表明 miRNA 可能以不同的方式促进老年和非老年患者的哮喘发病机制。
