Correlations of serum dual-specific phosphatase 1 and soluble cluster of differentiation 93 with severity of disease, lung function and airway inflammation in children with acute-phase bronchial asthma

Objective To investigate the correlations of serum dual-specific phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) and soluble cluster of differentiation 93 (sCD93) with severity of disease, lung function and airway inflammation in children with acute-phase bronchial asthma (BA).

Methods A total of 100 children with acute-phase BA (acute-phase group), 100 children with remission-phase BA (remission-phase group), and 100 healthy children (control group) in the Xingyuan Hospital of Yulin from January 2021 to January 2023 were selected, and the acute-phase group was further divided into mild subgroup (n=47), moderate subgroup (n=36) and severe subgroup (n=17) according to the severity of the disease. Serum DUSP1, sCD93 levels and lung function indexes peak expiratory flow (PEF), percentage of forced expiratory volume in the first second compared to the expected value (FEV₁%pred), and airway inflammation indexes eosinophil (EOS) count, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) were measured. Pearson's method was used to analyze the correlations of serum DUSP1 and sCD93 levels with PEF, FEV₁%pred, EOS and FeNO in children with acute-phase BA.

Results The levels of serum DUSP1, PEF, and FEV₁%pred in the acute-phase group were significantly lower than those in the remission-phase group and the control group, while the levels of sCD93, EOS count and FeNO were significantly higher than those in the remission-phase group and the control group (P < 0.01). The levels of serum DUSP1, PEF and FEV₁%pred in the severe subgroup were significantly lower than those in the moderate and mild subgroups, while the levels of sCD93, EOS count and FeNO were significantly higher than those in the moderate and mild subgroups (P < 0.01). PEF and FEV₁%pred were positively correlated with serum DUSP1 level, but negatively correlated with sCD93 level in children with acute-phase BA (P < 0.01). EOS count and FeNO were negatively correlated with serum DUSP1 level, but positively correlated with sCD93 level (P < 0.01).

Conclusions The decreased serum DUSP1 level and increased sCD93 level in children with acute-phase BA are closely related to the aggravation of the disease, the decrease of lung function, and airway inflammation, which may become new targets for the treatment of children with acute-phase BA.