Serum decoy receptor 3 is a biomarker for disease severity in nonatopic asthma patients

• Main Authors: Ming-Han Chen, Hung-Tsai Kan, Chun-Yu Liu, Wen-Kuang Yu, Shinn-Shing Lee, Jia-Horng Wang, Shie-Liang Hsieh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017-01-01
• Series: Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
• Subjects: ACT score; asthma; decoy receptor 3; FEV1; total eosinophil count
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929664616000486

Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a soluble receptor of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, is a pleiotropic immunomodulator. The aim of this study was to investigate serum DcR3 levels in atopic and nonatopic asthma patients. Methods: The serum DcR3 levels of 70 adults with asthma and 20 healthy controls were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The asthma patients were divided into atopic and nonatopic subgroups, based on the presence or absence of immunoglobulin E (IgE) specific to allergen. Correlations between serum DcR3 levels and blood total-eosinophil counts, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC), and Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores were analyzed. Results: The mean serum DcR3 level was significantly higher in asthma patients than in healthy controls (266.1 ± 60.6 pg/mL vs. 63.7 ± 21.9 pg/mL, p = 0.003), but there was no significant difference between the mean serum DcR3 level of asthma patients with atopy (37 patients) and patients without atopy (33 patients; 298.7 ± 111.2 pg/mL vs. 230.6 ± 38.5 pg/mL, p = 0.064). However, the serum DcR3 level was positively correlated with the total eosinophil count (r = 0.448, p = 0.012) and inversely correlated with the percentages of predicted FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and ACT score (r = 0.409, p = 0.018; r = −0.399, p = 0.021; and r = −0.505, p = 0.003, respectively) in nonatopic asthma patients, but not in atopic patients. Conclusion: High serum DcR3 levels are associated with disease severity in nonatopic asthma patients, which suggests that DcR3 is a potential biomarker that can be used to predict the severity of nonatopic asthma.