Clinical Significance of Measuring Interleukin-13 in Serum and Pulmonary Function in Infants with Bronchiolitis

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of measuring IL-13 in serum and dynamics of pulmonary function in infants with bronchiolitis.Methods A total of 50 infants with bronchiolitis(30 in acute phase,20 in recovery phase) and 20 infants in healthy controls were recruited into this study.IL-13 level in serum were detected with Sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),at the same time the object′s respiratory function were tested,then the above indexes were compared.Results The level of serum IL-13 in recovery phase of bronchiolitis was significantly lower than that in acute phase of bronchiolitis and those of both 2 groups were significantly higher than that in control group(all P0.01).Furthermore,teminal flows/peak expiratory flow(25/PF) and ratio of mid-expiratory to mid-inspiratory flow(ME/MI) in recovery phase were significantly higher than those in acute phase(all P0.01).It was also found that the IL-13 levels of acute phase were negative correlation to 25/PF(r=-0.38 P0.05),but no relation to ME/MI(r=-0.002 P0.05).Conclusions IL-13 plays a role in pathogenesis in infants with bronchiolitis.The reduction of level of IL-13 will contribute to recovery of infants with bronchiolitis.During the acute phase of bronchiolitis higher resistance can be seen.