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Abstract Background Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that is characterized by a Th2-type of immune response with increasing evidence for involvement of Th17 cells. The role of IL-6 in promoting effector T cell subsets suggest that IL-6 may play a functional role in asthma. Classically IL-6 has been viewed as an inflammatory marker, along with TNFα and IL-1β, rather than as regulatory cytokine. Objective To investigate the potential relationship between IL-6 and other proinflammatory cytokines, Th2/Th17 cytokines and lung function in allergic asthma, and thus evaluate the potential role of IL-6 in this disease. Methods Cytokine levels in induced sputum and lung function were measured in 16 healthy control and 18 mild-moderate allergic asthmatic subjects. Results The levels of the proinflammatory biomarkers TNFα and IL-1β were not different between the control and asthmatic group. In contrast, IL-6 levels were specifically elevated in asthmatic subjects compared with healthy controls (p < 0.01). Hierarchical regression analysis in the total study cohort indicates that the relationship between asthma and lung function could be mediated by IL-6. Among Th2 cytokines only IL-13 (p < 0.05) was also elevated in the asthmatic group, and positively correlated with IL-6 levels (rS = 0.53, p < 0.05). Conclusions In mild-moderate asthma, IL-6 dissociates from other proinflammatory biomarkers, but correlates with IL-13 levels. Furthermore, IL-6 may contribute to impaired lung function in allergic asthma.

An indoor air study was conducted during the summers of 2007 and 2008 to determine the effect(s) of resident lifestyle on the concentrations and distributions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in residences of the city of Niagara Falls, New York. A GrayWolf Sensing Solutions Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) detector was used to measure TVOC concentrations and generic air readings of five predetermined locations within each of 58 residences. Factors including smoking, asthma, furnace filter condition, pest infestations and air conditioning and their effect(s) on TVOC concentrations were evaluated. The general distributions of TVOC within each residence were determined. Examining the latter three variables revealed no significant differences. However, TVOC concentrations increased as high as 20% in smoking households. Asthmatic households exhibited TVOC levels elevated as high as 33%. Additionally, TVOC levels from smoking households and asthmatic households gave a linear relationship (R2 =0.96). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]