Integrin beta 4 MRNA expression levels in bronchial asthma patients

Abstract

Integrin beta 4 (ITGβ4) is one of the integrin families that is engaged in the maintenance of the integrity of airway epithelial cells. The aim of this work was to evaluate the relationship between ITGβ4 mRNA expression level and asthma susceptibility; and to analyze the relevance of atopic asthma with the alteration of ITGβ4mRNA expression level.Seventy five asthmatic patients and thirty age and gender matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Serum total IgE was measured by ELISA and mRNA expression of ITGβ4 was assessed by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) using real time PCR.. ITGβ4 mRNA expression was significantly down regulated with increased serum total IgE in patients with asthma compared to controls. Moreover, ITGβ4 expression was significantly reduced with increased total IgE in atopic asthmatics compared to non-atopic asthmatics.From this study, it could be concluded thatdown-regulation of ITGβ4 expression is associated with asthma susceptibility mainly in atopic cases irrespective of the degree of severity.

Key words: Integrin β4, expression, asthma, atopy and RT- PCR.