STUDY OF EPITHELIAL CELL GENES IN A SAMPLE OF EGYPTIAN CHILDREN WITH
BRONCHIAL ASTHMA
Abstract
Objective: to assess epithelial cell genes (TMEM178, FKBP5, CLCA1,
SERPINB2 and Periostin) in childhood asthma and their utility in
predicting asthma severity, level of control and atopic status. Study
design: 70 stable asthmatic children included who were further
subdivided into mild, moderate and severe persistent asthma, also
subdivided into controlled and partially to uncontrolled asthma and 30
apparently healthy children. All children were subjected to medical
history taking, clinical examination, complete blood count, serum IgE,
and nasal epithelial samples were collected for detection of epithelial
cell genes (TMEM178, FKBP5, CLCA1, SERPINB2 and Periostin) by real-time
PCR. Results: TMEM178 showed significant down regulation in asthmatic
children and its expression levels decreased significantly with the
progression of asthma severity. CLCA1, SERPINB2 and Periostin showed
statistically significant up regulation in asthmatic children with no
statistically significant differences between different degrees of
asthma severity. FKBP5 showed neither statistically significant
difference with control group nor between different degrees of asthma
severity. TMEM178, CLCA1, SERPINB2 and Periostin were significantly up
regulated in controlled asthma. While, FKBP5 was significantly up
regulated in partially to uncontrolled group. CLCA1, SERPINB2 and
Periostin were significantly up regulated in atopic asthma while TMEM178
and FKBP5 showed no statistically significant differences between atopic
and non-atopic asthma. Conclusion: TMEM178 expression gained attention
as a predictor of asthma severity. CLCA1, SERPINB2 and Periostin
expression were upregulated not only in airway epithelial cells of
asthmatic children but also in controlled and atopic asthma, whereas
FKBP5 was upregulated in partially to uncontrolled asthma.