Transcriptional factors F???3,?-Maf, GATA3 and T-bet in different variants of bronchial asthma

Predominance of Th-cells populations has been previously shown in patients with differtentvariants of bronchial asthma. To investigate cross-talk interactions between lymphocyte transcriptional factors Foxp3, c-Maf, GATA3 and T-bet we evaluated blood samples of 47 healthy volunteers and 82 patients with bronchial asthma. mRNA expression of Fохр3, с-Maf, GATA3 and T-bet was measured by RT-PCR, the levels of associated cytokines were analyzed by ready-to-use ELISA kits. We revealed high levels of GATA3, c-Maf, IL-4, IL-13 and IgE in patients with allergic bronchial asthma. On the contrary, in non-allergic bronchial asthma T-bet and IFN-γ were increased. No significant changes were shown for Foxp3 in asthma comparing with healthy controls. However in some patients with severe asthma (in both allergic and non-allergic asthma groups) high levels of IL-17 were detected. This was associated with decreased Foxp3 mRNA expression and may be caused by predominance of Th17-cells and limited activity of Foxp3+Treg in severe asthma. Our data suggest the presence of disbalance between Th1/Th2/Foxp3+Treg and Th17/Foxp3+Treg, which may determine clinical features of asthma.