STUDY OF EPITHELIAL CELL GENES IN A SAMPLE OF EGYPTIAN CHILDREN WITH BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

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.