RESUMO
Interleukin-13 [IL-13] is a newly described cytokine. The objective of this study is to evaluate the rote of IL-13 in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma among children, studying the relation of IL-13 to disease state and other laboratory findings and studying the effect of steroid therapy on IL-13 expression. This study was conducted on 40 asthmatic children presented with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma. Their ages ranged from 4-14 years [mean age 7.5 +/- 2.8 years] 22 patients [55%] were mates and 18 patients [45%] were females. The study included as well 15 healthy children as controls. Patients and controls were subjected to detailed history taking, complete physical examination, complete blood count, total serum IgE level estimation, and PEER measurement. Serum IL-13 was measured for all subjects using the ELISA technique, during acute attack and one week after treatment. Treatment included bronchodilators with or without steriod therapy. Serum IL-13 was higher in atopic asthmatics during acute attack compared to non-atopic patients and control subjects. There was a statistically highly significant decrease in the level of IL-13 one-week after treatment. There was a positive correlation between mean serum IL-13 and, both total serum IgE and absolute eosinophilic count. There was an inverse relationship between IL-13 mean level during acute attack and PEFR in all asthmatics