The strength of the antibody response to the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides inversely correlates with levels of B-Cell Activating Factor (BAFF)

Table 1 Descriptive of the study population

Variables	Asthmatic patients (n = 448)	Non-asthmatic controls (n = 448)	p-value
Age, years (Mean ± SD)	34.4 ± 18.2	36.7 ± 18.6	0.06
Gender, female, n (%)	256 (57.1)	249 (55.6)	0.6
Soluble BAFF levels [pg/ml]^a	768 (554.2–999.1)	804.3 (628.5–964.3)	0.16^b
mRNA levels BAFF1^c (Mean ± SD)	3.21 ± 1.39	3.12 ± 1.14	0.6^d
mRNA levels BAFF2^c (Mean ± SD)	2.79 ± 1.04	2.70 ± 0.94	0.5^d
Total IgE, UI/ml^a,e	699.7 (236.3–1065.8)	148.8 (58.3–408.1)	<0.001^b
Ig levels to parasite (OD) ^a,e
sIgE to Ascaris	0.117 (0.100–0.150)	0.105 (0.091–0.134)	<0.001^b
sIgG to Ascaris	1.99 (1.60–2.34)	2.17 (1.73–2.69)	<0.001^b
sIgE to ABA-1	0.125 (0.098–0.187)	0.119 (0.099–0.154)	0.18^b
sIgG to ABA-1	1.49 (1.09–1.83)	1.70 (1.36–2.11)	<0.001^b
Ig levels to HDM (OD) ^a,e
IgE to D. pteronyssinus	0.191 (0.115–0.520)	0.099 (0.089–0.122)	<0.001^b
IgE to B. tropicalis	0.231 (0.110–1.06)	0.098 (0.089–0.122)	<0.001^b

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