Review of airway IL-IB in bronchiectasis

Professor Brown recently published an editorial in the European Respiratory Journal, reviewing the findings of Perea et al regarding the important role of interleukin (IL)-1β in bronchiectasis.

This chronic lung disease is characterised by airway inflammation and persistent infections, and the protein IL-1β is an important marker of inflammation that increases during active infection. The study by Perea et al demonstrated that, in patients with bronchiectasis, the amount of IL-1β in the sputum reflected how severe the disease was.  Higher levels of IL-1β in the sputum was found in patients with more symptoms, poorer lung function and higher levels of infection with common bacteria in bronchiectasis such as Haemophilus influenzae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  This raises the ‘chicken and egg’ question; do high levels of IL-1β in the sputum (and therefore deeper in the lungs as well) make bronchiectasis worse or do they just show a response to poorly controlled bronchiectasis?  It is probably a bit of both, with IL-1β levels increased in the lungs of bronchiectasis patients by poorly controlled infections and in turn making it harder for the body to control those infections. Perea et al show some data supporting the latter, in which they added IL-1β to lung cells and showed this damaged the cells and stopped them clearing bacteria away.

These findings suggest that giving patients with bronchiectasis treatments that block the effects of IL-1β could be beneficial. To prove this will require more research involving a clinical trial of anti- IL-1β treatments, but these already exist so a trial should be possible to organise if the funds needed to do the research could be secured.

Read Professor Brown’s full editorial here.

[Posted Oct24]