Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein 2 are elevated in intrinsic asthmatics Rana Dajani a,⇑ , Esraa Al-Haj Ali a , Basem Dajani b a Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan b Jordan Allergy Institute, Amman, Jordan article info Article history: Received 28 February 2011 Received in revised form 9 July 2011 Accepted 30 August 2011 Available online 25 September 2011 Keywords: Chemokines Cytokines Intrinsic asthma Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein abstract Background: Intrinsic asthma, etiology unknown, occurs later in life, mostly in females. It is associated with nasal polyps and massive eosinopillic infiltration of the respiratory mucous membrane, aspirin intolerance and steroid dependence. The aim of the study was to determine the cytokine and chemokine profile in sera of intrinsic asthmatics and control subjects. Methods: Blood was taken from 10 intrinsic asthmatic female and 12 control female subjects. Expression profile of 42 different cytokines and chemokines were measured using a microarray composed of anti- bodies against the cytokines and chemokines. Complete blood count and C-reactive protein were mea- sured, to assess the state of inflammation in both groups. Results: We have identified Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor, a proinflammatory cytokine and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein 2, a CC chemokine as having significantly higher expression levels in intrinsic asthmatic subjects compared to controls (341.71 ± 31.28 SEM Signal intensity) versus (247.97 ± 28.09 SEM Signal intensity), p= 0.036 and (397.07 ± 38.19 SEM Signal intensity) versus (311.33 ± 28.76 SEM Signal intensity), p= 0.036, respectively. There were no significant differences in the other cytokines and chemokines measured nor were there any differences in the inflammatory mea- surements between the two groups except for eosinophil counts, the hall mark of intrinsic asthma. Conclusion: Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein are elevated in sera of intrinsic asthmatics compared to normal controls. These cytokines may have a critical role in the inflammatory pathology of intrinsic asthma. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Asthma is a complex; inflammatory disease of the lungs charac- terized by reversible airway obstruction, chronic airway inflamma- tion, and airway hyperresponsiveness [1,2]. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, around 300 million people in the world have asthma, and there may be an additional 100 million persons with asthma by 2025 [3]. Asthma is commonly divided into two types: extrinsic asthma which is more common and is IgE mediated and intrinsic asthma [4]. Intrinsic asthma usu- ally occurs in older individuals with preponderance in females. They have onset symptoms in later life and have no history of IgE dependent hypersensitivity [5,6]. Intrinsic asthma is associated with nasal polyps and massive eosinopillic infiltration of the 1043-4666/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2011.08.040 Abbreviations: BMI, Body mass index; CBC, Complete blood count; CRP, C-reactive protein; EGF, Epidermal growth factor; ENA-78, Epithelial neutrophil activating protein; FGF, Fibroblast growth factor; GCSF, Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor; GM-CSF, Granulocyte-macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor; GRO, Growth regulated oncogene; GRO-a, Growth regulated peptide a; HASMC, Human airway smooth-muscle cells; I-309, Inflammatory chemokine-309; IFN-c, Interferon gamma; IgA, Immunoglobulin A; IgE, Immunoglobulin E; IgG, Immunoglobulin G; IL-1, Interleukin1; IL-2, Interleukin 2; IL-3, Interleukin 3; IL-4, Interleukin 4; IL-5, Interleukin 5; IL-6, Interleukin 6; IL-7, Interleukin 7; IL-8, Interleukin 8; IL-9, Interleukin 9; IL-10, Interleukin 10; IL-11, Interleukin 11; IL-12, Interleukin 12; IL-12p40, Interleukin 8; IL-13, Interleukin 13; IL-15, Interleukin 15; IL-16, Interleukin 16; IL-17, Interleukin 17; IL-18, Interleukin 18; IP-10, Interferon-gamma-induced protein; LAK, Lymphokine activated killer; MCH, Mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC, Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; MCP-1, Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1; MCP-2, Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-2; MCP-3, Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-3; MCSF, Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor; MCV, Mean corpuscular volume; MDC, Macrophage derived chemokines; MIG, Monokines induced by gamma interferon; MIP, Macrophage inhibitory protein; NK cell, Natural Killer cell; PAE, Platelet activating factor; PDGF, Platelet derived growth factor; RANTES, Regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted; RBC, Red blood cell; SDF-1, Stromal cell-derived factor1; SCF, Sertoli cell factor; TARC, Thymus and activation regulated chemokines; TH1, T helper1; TH2, T helper2; TGF-b, Transforming growth factor beta; TNF-a, Tumor necrosis factor alpha; VCAM-1, Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1; VEGF, Vascular endothelial growth factor; WBC, White blood cell. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Biology and biotechnology, Hashemite University, P.O. Box 150459, Zarqa Jordan 13133, Jordan. Tel.: +962 799746340; fax: +962 53826613. E-mail addresses: rdajani@hu.edu.jo (R. Dajani), noor.dajani@hotmail.com (B. Dajani). Cytokine 56 (2011) 641–647 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Cytokine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/10434666