Investigating the Cytokine levels correlation with BMI and FEV1 in cystic fibrosis patients of Iran using ELISA and Real-time PCR

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common autosomal recessive illnesses. Inflammatory responses, a lot of mucus in the respiratory system, and pulmonary and respiratory disorders are just a few of the issues these patients experience. Numerous research has been carried out to investigate cytokines in patients, but to the best of our knowledge, Iran has not provided any information on cytokine changes of CF patients. The purpose of our research was to investigate pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in CF patients and analyzed the correlation of cytokines with each other’s and with FEV1and BMI in different microbial groups. In this study, 42 CF patients and 10 healthy people were examined to measure the levels of IL-10, IL-4, IFN-γ, IL-17, TGF-β, and IL-8 in serum and PBMC samples by ELISA and Real-time PCR methods. In the following, the patient's sputum samples were cultured in specific media and the relationship between cytokines and the microbiota was investigated. The results showed that patients had higher levels of IL-10, IL-4, and IFN-γ and lower levels of IL-17. There was a correlation between IL-10, IL-4, and IFN-γ in patients and by increasing IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-γ were increased. Patients withP. aeruginosahad higher levels of IL-10, IL-4, and IFN-γ, but there was no change in these markers in patients with other bacteria such asS. aureus, Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, Candida, and Klebsiella. TGF-β and IL-17 levels were reduced in patients withP. aeruginosaand other bacteria, respectively. However, in patients with microorganisms other thanP. aeruginosa, FEV1 had a positive relationship with IL-8, and with an increase in FEV1, the level of IL-8 increased. This contrasts with the investigation of the relationship between cytokines and FEV and BMI, which did not show any relationship between the factors in patients withP. aeruginosa. Our study's findings revealed that CF patient's cytokines differed from those of the control group. As a result, it is possible to recommend using the studied cytokines as markers for disease modulation.