Metalloproteinase 9 and its role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases in children

Metalloproteinases (MMP) play a significant role in the mechanisms of maintaining chronic inflammation and tissue remodeling. The study of concentration changes in these enzymes in the blood serum of children with allergopathology is of great practical and scientific interest.Objective: to study the role of MMP-9 in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases in children. 180 children aged from 1 to 18 years passed a comprehensive clinical and laboratory examination. This study included patients suffering from bronchial asthma (BA) (n = 54), atopic dermatitis (AD) (n = 54) and combination of these pathologies (n = 72). Serum levels of MMP9 were determined by enzyme immunoassay using Cloud-CloneCorp® test systems (USA).The analysis of the obtained data showed that among patients with the established diagnosis of BA, the maximum concentration of this cytokine was registered in children with a moderate course of the disease. The conducted correlation analysis showed the presence of a significant correlation between the severity of asthma and the level of control over the disease (r = 0.63). Similar data was obtained in patients with a combination of BA and AD. In children of this group, there was also a significant increase in serum MMP-9 compared with healthy patients (p = 0.015). The concentration of this matrix metalloproteinase in serum was slightly higher among children with polyvalent sensitization than in patients with monoallergic etiology of the disease (p = 0.272). The values of MMP-9 in patients with only skin manifestations of atopy were significantly higher than in the control group (p = 0.025).The data we obtained showed that all the patients we examined had a significant increase in the level of MMP-9 in the blood serum, which indicates an important role of this cytokine in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases in children.