Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Biomed Res Int. 2022 Jun 6;2022:6564706. doi: 10.1155/2022/6564706. eCollection 2022.
The effect of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) on eosinophil activation, atopic sensitization, and systemic inflammation in allergic diseases has rarely been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between NGAL, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), cytokines, and allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) in allergic diseases. A total of 136 patients with allergies and 58 healthy individuals were evaluated. The concentrations of NGAL, ECP, tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-), interleukin-5 (IL-5), sIgE, total IgE (tIgE), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were measured. The transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1) level was measured as a profibrotic marker of bronchial asthma. Allergic patients had significantly higher NGAL, ECP, and hsCRP levels than healthy individuals. However, there was no significant difference in NGAL levels between patients with positive and negative ECP tests and those with high and low sIgE scores. Asthmatic patients with elevated NGAL exhibited a significantly higher TGF-1 level than those without elevated NGAL. However, no significant difference was observed in the ECP, IL-5, and sIgE levels between the two groups. Among the patients with a positive ECP test, subjects with elevated hsCRP had two times higher NGAL levels than those without elevated hsCRP. NGAL was positively correlated with TNF-, TGF-1, and hsCRP, but not with ECP, IL-5, tIgE, and sIgE. An elevated NGAL level led to a 1.3-fold increase in the prevalence of high TGF-1 (odds ratio: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.04-2.58; < 0.001). In conclusion, NGAL elevation may be more closely linked to allergic inflammation and a possible fibrotic change in the airways than to the severity of eosinophil activation and atopic sensitization.
中性粒细胞明胶酶相关脂质运载蛋白 (NGAL) 对过敏性疾病中嗜酸性粒细胞活化、特应性致敏和全身炎症的影响很少被研究。本研究旨在探讨过敏性疾病中 NGAL、嗜酸性粒细胞阳离子蛋白 (ECP)、细胞因子和过敏原特异性免疫球蛋白 E (sIgE) 之间的关系。共评估了 136 名过敏患者和 58 名健康个体。测量了 NGAL、ECP、肿瘤坏死因子- (TNF-)、白细胞介素-5 (IL-5)、sIgE、总 IgE (tIgE) 和高敏 C 反应蛋白 (hsCRP) 的浓度。转化生长因子-1 (TGF-1) 水平被测量为支气管哮喘的成纤维蛋白标记物。过敏患者的 NGAL、ECP 和 hsCRP 水平明显高于健康个体。然而，ECP 检测阳性和阴性患者以及 sIgE 评分高和低患者之间的 NGAL 水平没有差异。NGAL 升高的哮喘患者 TGF-1 水平明显高于 NGAL 未升高的患者。然而，两组之间的 ECP、IL-5 和 sIgE 水平没有差异。在 ECP 检测阳性的患者中，hsCRP 升高的患者的 NGAL 水平比 hsCRP 未升高的患者高两倍。NGAL 与 TNF-、TGF-1 和 hsCRP 呈正相关，与 ECP、IL-5、tIgE 和 sIgE 无关。NGAL 水平升高使 TGF-1 升高的患病率增加 1.3 倍（比值比：1.31；95%置信区间：1.04-2.58；<0.001）。总之，NGAL 升高与过敏性炎症和气道可能的纤维化变化的关系比与嗜酸性粒细胞活化和特应性致敏的严重程度更为密切。
