Evaluation of serum levels of interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-β1 among Egyptian children with wheezy asthma phenotype

Background Asthma is known to be a heterogeneous disease that forms a problem in asthma management. Symptom-based asthma phenotyping with endotyping of the proposed phenotype is a trial to solve this problem. Asthma phenotypes and endotypes facilitate research, establish genetic associations, identify biomarkers, and test for new lines of treatment. Aim To clarify the cytokine profile of wheezy asthma phenotype which could pave the way to personalize asthma medicines according to symptom-based asthma phenotypes. Patients and methods A case-control study was conducted in 50 asthmatic patients presented solely with wheezes with a mean +/- SD of age of 9.54 +/- 2.81 years and 50 healthy controls, with a mean +/- SD of age of 8.98 +/- 2.79 years. The studied cases and controls underwent assessment of serum levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10), transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), peripheral eosinophilic percent, and pulmonary function tests. Results Wheezy asthma phenotype showed significant increase in parental smoking, positive family history, total serum IgE, peripheral eosinophilic percent, and TGF-beta 1 compared with controls. However, serum IL-10 showed significant decrease in cases versus controls. Asthmatics with allergic rhinitis showed significant increase in total serum IgE and peripheral eosinophilic percent compared with non-allergic rhinitis asthmatics. Conclusion Wheezy asthma phenotype showed significant increase of serum TGF-beta 1 as a promoting effect of airway remodeling, significant decrease in serum IL-10, and significant increase of both total serum IgE and eosinophilic percent. This throws a light on the importance of asthma phenotyping according to symptomatology, as a trial toward tailoring asthma medications.