An immunological study of bronchial asthma with special reference to Interleukin-4, Interferon-γ and Immunoglobulin E

Asthma is a disorder defined by its clinical, physiological, and pathological characteristics. The predominant feature of the clinical history is episodic shortness of breath, particularly at night, often accompanied by cough. The main physiological feature of asthma is episodic airway obstruction characterized by expiratory airflow limitation. The dominant pathological feature is airway inflammation, sometimes associated with airway structural changes. This immunological study on bronchial asthma was conducted at Sir Sunderlal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in the year 2010. Based on clinical history one group of 70 cases with history of asthma and other group of 36 controls with no history of asthma were made. The mean serum level of IL-4, IgE, and AEC was observed significantly higher in cases as compared to controls whereas; mean IFN-γ as well as FEV₁ were observed significantly lower in cases as compared to controls. The cut-off values at appropriate sensitivity and specificity using ROC curve for IL-4, IFN-γ, IgE, AEC and FEV₁ were found as 7.25, 0.35, 225, 345 and 79.50 respectively. The imbalance in the serum levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ is predicted to drive the asthma pathogenesis while reducing IgE levels may now be considered as a treatment strategy.