Abstract

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the airways in the lungs and is common in many countries. Studies have shown that vitamin D levels are associated with the onset and exacerbation of asthma symptoms. Given the role of vitamin D in regulating immune responses and the importance of the two major cytokines IL-4 (an inflammatory cytokine) and IL-10 (an anti-inflammatory cytokine) in immunological processes, in this study, the relationship between vitamin D intake and the level of expression of these ILs in asthmatic mice was investigated. In the case-control study performed in three groups of mice, 10 experimental asthma mice, 10 asthmatic vitamin D-treated mice, and 10 healthy mice as the control group were studied. For analyses, after RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the expression level of two IL-4 and IL-10 genes was evaluated by real-time PCR. Finally, the results were analyzed by SPSS software. The results showed that in the control group, the expression level of IL-4 and IL-10 genes was 0.01 and 0.02, respectively. Accordingly, the expression level of the IL-4 gene in asthmatic mice and asthmatic mice treated with vitamin D was 0.6 and 0.2, respectively, while the expression level of the IL-10 in these groups was 1.2 and 2.8, respectively, which showed significant changes (p-value < 0.05) in treated mice compared to the asthmatic mice without treatment. Based on results, in asthmatic mice treated with vitamin D, a significant increase in IL-10 expression was observed (1.2 to 2.8), while IL-4 expression was decreased from 0.6 to 0.2. It appears that vitamin D supplementation in asthmatic patients by affecting T-cell maturation and increasing anti-inflammatory IL-10 and suppressing IL-4 may play a role in reducing the symptoms of asthma.