Properdin in childhood and its association with wheezing and atopy.

Abstract

Properdin, a serum glycoprotein, is an important component of innate immunity, the only known positive regulator of complement, acting as an initiation point for alternative pathway activation. As an X-linked protein, we hypothesized that properdin may play a modulatory role in the pathogenesis of viral wheeze in children, which tends to be more common and more severe in boys. We aimed to determine properdin levels in a community-based paediatric sample, and to assess whether levels of properdin were associated with childhood wheeze phenotypes and atopy. We studied 137 school-children aged 8-12 yrs, a nested sample from a cohort study. Properdin was measured by a commercial enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay. We assessed wheeze by questionnaire, validated it by a nurse-led interview and performed skin prick tests and a methacholine challenge in all children. Forty children (29%) reported current wheeze. Serum properdin levels ranged between 18 and 40 microg/ml. Properdin was not associated with age, gender, atopy, bronchial responsiveness, current wheeze (neither the viral wheeze nor multiple-trigger wheeze phenotype) or severity of wheeze, but was slightly lower in south Asian (median 21.8 microg/ml) compared with white children (23.3 microg/ml; p = 0.006). Our data make it unlikely that properdin deficiency is common in healthy children or that levels of properdin are a major risk factor for wheeze or atopy.

• Authors: Kathryn Grace Staley, Claudia Elisabeth Kuehni, Marie-Pierre Françoise Strippoli, Teresa McNally, Michael Silverman, Cordula Stover
• Journal: Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (Pediatr Allergy Immunol) Vol. 21 Issue 4 Pt 2 Pg. e787-91 (Jun 2010) ISSN: 1399-3038 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 20337960 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Properdin

Topics

• Asian People
• Case-Control Studies
• Child
• Complement Pathway, Alternative (genetics)
• Female
• Genes, X-Linked (genetics, immunology)
• Genetic Association Studies
• Humans
• Hypersensitivity (genetics, immunology, physiopathology)
• Male
• Properdin (genetics, immunology, metabolism)
• Respiratory Sounds
• Sex Factors
• Skin Tests
• White People