Background: Asthma is defined as an airway inflammation that results from interactions between various cells, cellular elements, and cytokines, which causes symptoms that include wheezing, breathlessness, and cough. Osteopontin (OPN) is a glycoprotein highly expressed in the bone and in a range of immune cells.
Aim and objectives: The study aim to evaluate the serum levels of osteopontin in patients with mild, moderate and severe asthma in comparison with apparently healthy group as a control and it is relation to asthma severity.
Subjects and methods: This is a case-control study that conducted at pediatric pulmonology outpatient clinics of Sayed-Galal and Al-Hussein University Hospitals, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Egypt. During the period from September 2021 to February 2022. The case group included 40 asthmatic children while Control group included 40 apparently healthy children.
Results: As regard Laboratory data of cases and controls, our results showed that the mean serum osteopontin showed significant elevation in cases compared to controls, severe asthmatic patients exhibit higher serum OPN level than mederate and mild patients with statistically significant difference. Hemoglobin was significantly higher in cases compared to controls. Eosinophilic percentage was significantly higher in cases compared to controls.
Conclusion: The present study has shown that asthma patients exhibit higher serum OPN levels than controls and severe asthmatic patients exhibit higher serum OPN level than mederate and mild patients.