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Abstract
Background. Acute bronchiolitis frequently causes wheezing in infants and young children, although its relationship to asthma remains unclear. We hypothesized that serum lipoxin A4 levels may be used as an early predictive biomarker of subsequent asthma in young children with acute bronchiolitis. Methods. We recruited 69 children who were divided into 3 groups: 47 children younger than 24 months with acute bronchiolitis as an experimental group (Group 1); 11 children aged 2–24 months with viral acute gastroenteritis as a non-allergic control group (Group 2); and 11 children older than 24 months with physician-diagnosed asthma exacerbations as an asthma control group (Group 3). We determined white blood cell counts, eosinophil counts, and serum levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-4, interleukin-5, prostaglandin E2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and lipoxin A4. Results. The mean serum levels of lipoxin A4 in the groups with acute bronchiolitis (1), acute gastroenteritis (2), and asthma (3) were 0.0430.028, 0.0540.015, and 0.0510.031 ng/ml, respectively. When compared by t-tests, there were no significant differences between Groups 1 and 2, or Groups 1 and 3 (p0.05), despite a significant difference between Groups 2 and 3 (p=0.0392). In a final regression model, serum lipoxin A4 levels were positively correlated with age, female gender, white blood cell counts, and interleukin-5 levels in all patients, while asthma patients had lower serum lipoxin A4 levels compared to the other two groups. Conclusion. Serum levels of lipoxin A4 cannot be used as an early predictive diagnostic marker for asthma in young children with acute bronchiolitis.