Innate lymphoid cells and cytokines of the novel subtypes of helper T cells in asthma

BACKGROUND: In this study, the expression of interleukin-9 (IL-9), IL-17, IL-22, and IL-25 genes that might be the potential predisposing factors for asthma as well as count of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) as another source of inflammatory cytokines have been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of newly identified helper T cells signature cytokines and amount of ILCs. METHODS: Blood and sputum samples from 23 patients with moderate to severe asthma and 23 healthy volunteers were collected. The types of allergens to which our patients were sensitive were defined using immunoblotting method. Gene expression of studied cytokines was evaluated using quantitative transcription-polymerase chain reaction and ILCs were counted by the flow cytometry method. RESULTS: In this research, the gene expressions of IL-9, IL-17, IL-22, and IL-25 were significantly higher in asthmatics, especially in the severe form of the disease. This increase was even higher in serum samples compared with sputum samples. Counting ILCs revealed their increase in comparison with normal people. CONCLUSION: We showed the importance of IL-25, IL-22, IL-17, and IL-9 cytokines in patients with asthma as their expression levels are increased and these increase are correlated with the severity of the disease. We also showed that the increased amount of ILCs in asthmatics could confirm their potential role in the immunopathogenesis of asthma as another source of inflammatory cytokines.