| Summary: | Siyuan Huang,1,* Tao Feng,2,* Jing Wang,1 Liang Dong3 1Department of Respiratory, Shandong Qianfoshan Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Jinan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Liang Dong, Department of Respiratory, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Jinan, 250014, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13505401207, Email dl5506@126.comBackground: Interleukin (IL)-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ belong to the IL-36 family and play an important role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be correlated with IL-36; however, the specific role of IL-36 in COPD is unclear. In this study, we aimed to clarify whether IL-36 could be an indicator for determining COPD severity and the specific nature of the pro-inflammatory effects of IL-36 in COPD.Methods: A total of 70 patients with COPD and 20 control subjects were included in this study. We collected peripheral blood samples from both the groups, analyzed the blood cell fractions by routine blood examination, and measured the serum levels of IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ by performing polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, the correlation between the number of neutrophils and eosinophils and the level of IL-36 was also analyzed.Results: We found that level of IL-36 in patients with COPD was positively correlated with the number of neutrophils but not with eosinophils, whereas the correlation was not found in the control group. Moreover, the level of IL-36 was negatively correlated with the level of lung function of patients with COPD, and the levels of IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ increased with advancing disease severity.Conclusion: In COPD, the pro-inflammatory effect of IL-36 is closely related to neutrophils, and hence, IL-36 might be considered a novel biomarker for determining COPD severity.Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, IL-36, neutrophils, inflammation
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