Association of serum sphingosine-1-phosphate with forced expiratory volume and absolute eosinophil count in asthma patients

Objective: To investigate the association of serum sphingosine-1-phosphate with forced expiratory volume and absolute eosinophil count in asthmatic patients. Methodology: In this cross sectional comparative study, 36 Asthmatic patients and 36 non-asthmatic healthy adults as control were selected through convenient sampling. Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1), Absolute Eosinophil Count (AEC) and serum Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) of all patients and control were measured. Results: Mean FEV1 value of asthmatics (49.30 +/- 14.79) was significantly lower than mean FEV1 value (92.8 +/- 5.9) of controls, while mean AEC (0.23 +/- 0.1) and S1P (1942.74 +/- 426.30) were significantly higher in asthmatic patients than mean AEC (0.07 +/- 0.02) and S1P (940.44 +/- 210.9) of controls (p= 0.001). Serum S1P levels in asthmatic patients were negatively associated with FEV1 (r(2) = -0.808), while, serum S1P levels were positively associated with AEC (r(2) = 0.674) in asthmatic group. Area under the curve in ROC analysis was 0.98, cut off value of S1P with 91.7% sensitivity and 83.1% specificity was 1251 nmol/L for asthma. Conclusion: Serum S1P levels were negatively associated with the FEV1 and positively associated with ACE.