Deciphering Asthma Biomarkers with Protein Profiling Technology

Table 1

Cytokines as biomarkers in asthma explored in these years.

Cytokine targets	Typical physiologic functions	Potential application	Sample source
IL-4	Activating Th2 immunity; priming the vessel wall for eosinophil extravasations	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, sputum, BALF, serum
IL-5	Promoting eosinophilia	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, sputum, BALF, serum
IL-13	Mounting BHR, goblet cell metaplasia	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, sputum, BALF, serum
IL-25	Activating innate lymphoid cells	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, sputum, BALF, serum
IL-33	Activating innate lymphoid cells	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, sputum, BALF, serum
TSLP	Activating dendritic cells and promoting Th2 immunity	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, serum
Eotaxin-1/CCL11	Eosinophil chemotaxis	Diagnosis, prediction	Tissue, sputum, BALF
Eotaxin-2/CCL24	Eosinophil chemotaxis	Diagnosis	Tissue, sputum, BALF
Eotaxin-3/CCL26	Eosinophil chemotaxis	Diagnosis	Blood, tissue
MCP-4/CCL13	Chemoattractant for eosinophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, and basophils	Diagnosis, prediction	Sputum, BALF, plasma
IL-9	Promoting IL-4-driven antibody, inducing goblet cell metaplasia	Diagnosis, therapeutic	Tissue, serum
CCL17	Recruitment of Th2 cells	Diagnosis, prediction	Sputum, serum