High Interleukin-13 level is associated with disease stability in interstitial Lung disease

Purpose: Cytokines can help predict prognosis in interstitial lung disease (ILD) and to differentiate between ILD subtypes. The objectives of our study were to evaluate association of baseline cytokine levels with time to ILD progression and to compare baseline cytokine levels between ILD subtypes. Methods: We quantified 27 cytokines using a multiplex assay in peripheral blood samples from 77 patients. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to evaluate cytokine impact on the time to progression in the total cohort and within each ILD type. We evaluated for significant differences in cytokine levels between ILD types using ANOVA, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Tukey method. Results: Higher IL-13 level was associated with longer time to progression (hazard ratio 0.52 [0.33–0.81], p-value 0.004). FGF-β, GM-CSF, and IL-17 levels differed significantly between fibrotic and inflammatory ILD subgroups. Conclusion: IL-13 may be a useful biomarker predicting ILD stability.