{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T09:09:27Z","timestamp":1788772167814,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is implicated in epithelial dysfunction, fibroblast activation, tissue remodeling, and chronic inflammatory responses; however, the clinical value of circulating IL-11 in airway disease remains uncertain. This single-center retrospective exploratory observational study included 88 adults: 31 with allergic rhinitis, 15 with non-allergic asthma, 22 with allergic asthma associated with allergic rhinitis, and 20 healthy controls. Serum IL-11 concentrations were measured using a quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Between-group differences were assessed using the Kruskal\u2013Wallis test followed by Holm-adjusted pairwise Mann\u2013Whitney U tests. Associations with disease-specific ordinal clinical categories were evaluated using Spearman rank correlation, with GINA treatment Steps used for asthma phenotypes and ARIA severity categories for allergic rhinitis. Median IL-11 concentrations were 62.01 pg\/mL in non-allergic asthma, 78.87 pg\/mL in allergic rhinitis, 61.92 pg\/mL in allergic asthma associated with allergic rhinitis, and 95.46 pg\/mL in healthy controls. The primary global comparison was not statistically significant (H = 5.667, p = 0.129), and no pairwise comparison remained significant after Holm correction. Six measurements (6.8%) were below the assay detection limit; replacing these values with 4.0 pg\/mL in a sensitivity analysis did not materially alter the global result (H = 5.671, p = 0.129). Serum IL-11 was not significantly associated with GINA treatment step in non-allergic asthma (rho = \u22120.170, p = 0.544) or allergic asthma associated with allergic rhinitis (rho = 0.052, p = 0.818), nor with ARIA severity category in allergic rhinitis (rho = 0.046, p = 0.805). In an exploratory analysis adjusted for age, sex, body-mass category, and current smoking status, IL-11 concentrations were lower in each clinical phenotype relative to healthy controls; given the modest group sizes and baseline imbalance, this finding was considered hypothesis-generating. Overall, the primary analysis did not demonstrate significant differences in circulating IL-11 across study groups, and serum IL-11 was not associated with disease-specific ordinal clinical categories. These findings do not support the use of a single serum IL-11 measurement as a stand-alone biomarker of airway disease phenotype or clinical category in this cohort and warrant confirmation in larger, prospectively characterized cohorts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life16091497","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T08:07:06Z","timestamp":1788768426000},"page":"1497","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Circulating Interleukin-11 Across Allergic and Non-Allergic Airway Disease Phenotypes: A Single-Center Exploratory Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-7255-0835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Corina","family":"Porr","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Allergology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania"},{"name":"Allergology Department, County Clinical Emergency Hospital Sibiu, Bulevardul Corneliu Coposu 2\u20134, 550245 Sibiu, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anca","family":"Vidrighin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9991-7052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emi Marinela","family":"Preda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, Foi\u0219or Clinical Hospital of Orthopaedics, Traumatology and Osteoarticular Tuberculosis, 021382 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9373-3670","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabriela Mariana","family":"Iancu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania"},{"name":"Clinic of Dermatology, County Clinical Emergency Hospital Sibiu, Bulevardul Corneliu Coposu 2\u20134, 550245 Sibiu, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dana M.","family":"Harris","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1552-7961","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentin-Cristian","family":"Iovin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School Department, Victor Babe\u0219 University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timi\u0219oara, 300041 Timi\u0219oara, Romania"},{"name":"Department III Functional Sciences, Physiology Discipline, Victor Babe\u0219 University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timi\u0219oara, 300041 Timi\u0219oara, Romania"},{"name":"Centre of Immuno-Physiology and Biotechnologies (CIFBIOTEH), Department of Functional Sciences, Physiology, Victor Babe\u0219 University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timi\u0219oara, 300041 Timi\u0219oara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alina Camelia","family":"Catana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hematology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4845-8953","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cosmina","family":"Diaconu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing and Dental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550024 Sibiu, Romania"},{"name":"Clinic of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, County Clinical Emergency Hospital Sibiu, Bulevardul Corneliu Coposu 2\u20134, 550245 Sibiu, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"93","article-title":"United airway disease: Current perspectives","volume":"9","author":"Aun","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. 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