Abstract:

PURPOSE: Asthma is accepted as a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway epithelium. In asthma, balance between Th1/Th2 lymphocytes is changed in favour of the Th2 lymphocytes. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between respiratory function tests and serum leptin, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ levels and plasma nitric oxide concentrations. MATERIAL and METHODS: In this study, 32 clinically asthma diagnosed patients were taken as a patient group and 32 healthy individuals as a control group. Respiratory function tests for each case were carried out with spirometer. Serum leptin, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ levels were measured with a commercial kit that uses ELISA. Plasma nitrite and nitrate levels were detected with HPLC. Data were analysed with, Student t-test and Pearson correlation test by using SPSS 13.0 software. RESULTS: In control group, there was a positive correlation between leptin levels and FEV1 and FVC with the value of r=0,443 p=0,005 and r=0,440 p=0,013 respectively, whereas in patient group, there was a negative correlation between leptin levels and FEV1 with the value of r=-0,366 p=0,043. Serum leptin levels were significantly higher in women compared to men, p<0,001. In patient group, plasma nitric oxide levels were significantly lower compared to the control group, p=0,012. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that, airway inflammation may have systemic effects in asthma so that leptin and nitric oxide levels might be useful parameters to detect these systemic effects.

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