Expression of Interleukin (IL)-10, IL-17A and IL-22 in Serum and Sputum of Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Figures & data

Table 1  Characteristics of all subjects Table 1.

	COPD GOLD Disease Severity Scores
	I	II	III	IV	Healthy smokers	Non-smokers
Subjects (n)	18	28	30	18	23	22
Males/Females	14/4	20/8	23/7	14/5	17/6	17/5
Mean Age (years)	60.1 ± 3.1	61.1 ± 2.8	62.2 ± 2.3	61.7 ± 3.4	60.2 ± 2.1	60.3 ± 1.7
Smoking history (pack- years)	45.2 ± 4.2	46.4 ± 5.2	47.7 ± 4.2	46.3 ± 4.2	46.3 ± 5.6	0
FEV1% reference	84.1 ± 2.5	65.7 ± 10.8	40.8 ± 5.3	25.7 ± 1.7	92.5 ± 4.4	93.4 ± 4.3
Post-BD FEV1/FVC (%)	70.2 ± 4.5	63.4 ± 11.2	56.6 ± 8.4	46.3 ± 5.2	82.8 ± 6.8	83.2 ± 6.7
BMI (kg/m^2)	25.0 ± 1.2	24.9 ± 1.1	24.9 ± 0.8	24.8 ± 1.2	25.8 ± 0.9	25.6 ± 1.2
CRP (mg / L)	2.3 ± 0.2	4.4 ± 1.3	6.6 ± 1.4	7.0 ± 0.8	3.3 ± 2.3	3.1 ± 2.1
Peripheral blood neutrophils (10^9 /L)	5.55 ± 1.0	5.61 ± 1.1	5.77 ± 0.9	5.72 ± 1.0	5.23 ± 1.6	5.21 ± 1.4
Peripheral blood lymphocytes (10^9 /L)	2.46 ± 1.0	2.45 ± 0.8	2.55 ± 0.7	2.54 ± 1.0	2.32 ± 1.4	2.22 ± 1.4
TCC in sputum (10^4/mL)	315 ± 87	405 ± 93	467 ± 92	475 ± 82	215 ± 84	178 ± 85
Neutrophils in sputum (%)	53 ± 7.2	54 ± 7.4	56 ± 8.2	59 ± 8.4	34 ± 9.5	25 ± 5.7
Lymphocytes in sputum (%)	3.8 ± 1.9	4.2 ± 1.9	4.9 ± 2.1	4.7 ± 2.3	2.1 ± 1.1	1.4 ± 1.1
Macraphages in sputum (%)	41 ± 8.6	40 ± 8.2	37 ± 9.9	36 ± 8.9	62 ± 6.3	72 ± 6.2
Patients receiving ICS	0	4	28	18	0	0

Note: FEV₁: 1 second forced expiratory volume. FVC: forced vital capacity. CRP: C-reactive protein. BMI: body mass index. ICS: inhaled corticosteroids. TCC: Total cells count. Healthy smokers: current smokers with normal lung function. Nonsmokers: healthy volunteers who were not up to the standards: smoking history of at least 10 pack-years, and smoking habit of at least 10 cigarettes per day.

Figure 1.  IL-17A in different groups. Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). The left picture shows The serum level of IL-17A in non-smokers was 63.73 ± 20.37 pg/mL. The serum level of IL-17A in healthy smokers was 89.26 ± 26.82 pg/mL. The serum level of IL-17A in COPD stage 1 was 107.20 ± 24.45 pg/mL. The serum level of IL-17A in COPD stage 2 was 150.30 ± 32.38 pg/mL. The serum level of IL-17A in COPD stage 3 was 208.80 ± 27.98 pg/mL. The serum level of IL-17A in COPD stage 4 was 229.20 ± 29.52 pg/mL. The serum levels of IL-17A increased gradually from non-smoker group to COPD stage 4 group (p < 0.05). The right picture shows Sputum IL-17A were similar in severe COPD (stage III and IV), which were higher than those in the other groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 2.  Correlations between serum IL-17A in subjects with COPD and FEV_1% reference. The serum levels of IL-17A was inversely correlated with FEV₁% reference (r = –0.88, p < 0.01).

Figure 3.  Correlations between serum IL-17A in subjects with COPD and CRP. The serum IL-17A levels in the COPD patients were positively correlated with CRP (r = 0.78, p < 0.01).

Table 2  Correlations between cytokines and inflammatory Table 2. cells in sputum of severe COPD patients

Characteristics	IL-17A	IL-22
Sputum neutrophils%	r^2 = 0.2384, P = 0.0004	r^2 = 0.0688, P = 0.0783
Sputum macraphages%	r^2 = 0.2002, P = 0.0014	r^2 = 0.0401, P = 0.1819
Sputum lymphocytes%	r^2 = 0.0035, P = 0.6876	r^2 = 0.0101, P = 0.5067

Figure 4.  IL-22 in different groups. Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). The left picture shows the serum levels of IL-22 were significantly higher in COPD and smokers than those in the non-smoker group (p < 0.01). There was no difference of IL-22 in serum among the different COPD stages and smokers (p > 0.05). The right picture shows Sputum IL-22 was below the limit of detection in the samples from all non-smokers. Sputum IL-22 was similar in severe COPD (stage III and IV), which were higher than those in the other groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 5.  IL-10 in different groups. Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). The left picture shows the serum levels of IL-10 were similiar in COPD and healthy smokers (p > 0.05), which was lower than non-smokers group (p < 0.01). The right picture shows there was no significant difference between COPD and healthy smokers. Sputum IL-10 was significantly higher in the non-smoker group than COPD and healthy smokers (p < 0.01).