Respiratory infections regulated blood cells IFN-beta-PD-L1 pathway in pediatric asthma

Abstract

Respiratory infections in general and rhinovirus (RV) infection specifically are the main reason for asthma exacerbation in children. Here we found increased level of Programmed cell death protein 1 ligand (PD-L1) mRNA in total blood cells isolated from pre-school children with virus-induced asthma, with lower FEV1% and with high serum levels of the C-Reactive-Protein (CRP). These data indicate that, in the presence of infection in the airways of preschool children, worse asthma is associated with induced PD-L1 mRNA expression. Further, the activation of regulatory elements that induce IFNβ, a cytokine that is involved in immunity of infections, was found to be associated with better lung function in asthmatic children. Finally, IFN-beta released by peripheral blood Mononuclear cells (PBMC) was found associated with an induced expression of PD-L1mRNA in control but no asthmatic children. These data suggest that improving peripheral blood IFN type I expression in PBMCs in pediatric asthma could improve disease exacerbation because suppressing PDL1 expression in blood cells.