Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is a lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyzes sphingomyelin into ceramide, a bioactive lipid to regulate cellular physiological functions. Thus, ASM activation has been reported as a key event in pathophysiological reactions including inflammation, cytokine release, oxidative stress, and endothelial damage in human diseases. Since ASM activation is associated with extracellular ASM secretion through unknown mechanisms, it can be detected by recognizing the elevation of secretory ASM (S-ASM) activity. Serum S-ASM activity has been reported to increase in chronic diseases, acute cardiac diseases, and systemic inflammatory diseases. However, the serum S-ASM has not been investigated in common acute illness. This study was designed to evaluate serum S-ASM activity in children with common acute illness. Fifty children with common acute illness and five healthy children were included in this study. The patients were categorized into five groups based on clinical diagnoses: acute respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis, adenovirus infection, streptococcal infection, asthma, and other infections due to unknown origin. The serum S-ASM activity was significantly elevated at 6.9 ± 1.6 nmol/0.1 mL/6 h in the group of acute RSV bronchiolitis patients compared with healthy children who had a mean level of 1.8 ± 0.8 nmol/0.1 mL/6 h (p < 0.05). In the other illness groups, the serum S-ASM activity was not significantly elevated. The results suggest an association of ASM activation with RSV infection, a cause for common acute illness. This is the first report to describe the elevation of serum S-ASM activity in respiratory tract infection.
Keywords: acute bronchiolitis; ceramide; common acute illness; respiratory syncytial virus; secretory acid sphingomyelinase.