Data from: Analysis of a panel of 48 cytokines in BAL fluids specifically identifies IL-8 levels as the only cytokine that distinguishes controlled asthma from uncontrolled asthma, and correlates inversely with FEV1

We sought to identify cells and cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
fluids that distinguish asthma from healthy control subjects and those
that distinguish controlled asthma from uncontrolled asthma. Following
informed consent, 36 human subjects were recruited for this study. These
included 11 healthy control subjects, 15 subjects with controlled asthma
with FEV1≥80% predicted and 10 subjects with uncontrolled asthma with FEV1
<80% predicted. BAL fluid was obtained from all subjects. The
numbers of different cell types and the levels of 48 cytokines were
measured in these fluids. Compared to healthy control subjects, patients
with asthma had significantly more percentages of eosinophils and
neutrophils, IL-1RA, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2Rα, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, G-CSF,
GROα (CXCL1), MIP-1β (CCL4), MIG (CXCL9), RANTES (CCL5) and TRAIL in their
BAL fluids. The only inflammatory markers that distinguished controlled
asthma from uncontrolled asthma were neutrophil percentage and IL-8
levels, and both were inversely correlated with FEV1. We examined whether
grouping asthma subjects on the basis of BAL eosinophil % or neutrophil %
could identify specific cytokine profiles. The only differences between
neutrophil-normal asthma (neutrophil≤2.4%) and neutrophil-high asthma
(neutrophils%>2.4%) were a higher BAL fluid IL-8 levels, and a
lower FEV1 in the latter group. By contrast, compared to eosinophil-normal
asthma (eosinophils≤0.3%), eosinophil-high asthma
(eosinophils>0.3%) had higher levels of IL-5, IL-13, IL-16, and
PDGF-bb, but same neutrophil percentage, IL-8, and FEV1. Our results
identify neutrophils and IL-8 are the only inflammatory components in BAL
fluids that distinguish controlled asthma from uncontrolled asthma, and
both correlate inversely with FEV1.