Features of Cytokine Imbalance in Bronchial Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Their Comorbidity

Abstract

Nowadays respiratory diseases represent not only medical but also social and economic problem, which is the most widespread according to the World Health Organization, "the number of people suffering from bronchial asthma (BA) is 300 million, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth most important cause of death". In clinical practice there are often patients with characteristic symptoms of both nosological forms, which leads to certain difficulties in diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the study is to assess the role of cytokines IL-4, IL-8, IgE and TNF-α in the blood and in the exhaled air condensate of patients with bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their combination. The subjects of the study were 101 patients diagnosed with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The results showed that while comparing indices of interleukin - 8 (IL-8) in blood and in PBV among 3 comparable groups in acute stage it was revealed that in patients with COPD unlike BA patients (P<0,05), BA+COPD had statistically significant high indices (P<0,001). When comparing BA+COPD and BA, high IL-8 values were found among BA patients, this index was also statistically significant in blood (P<0.05) and statistically insignificantly high in the study of IL-8 in CVB (P<0.02).