| Research Abstract |
(Otgective) It is not known how the interrelation among cytokines, chemokines and leukotrienes, which are known to be associated with asthma, is modified during the clinical status of asthmatic patients. We investigated this interrelation to clarify the association of clinical features with airway inflammation, which frequently accompanies IgE production and the infiltration of eosinophils.
(Results) We investigated whether there was association between asthma, and aging, IgE-mediafed allergy or bronchial hyperresponsiveness. We found that IgE-mediated allergy was relatively low in aged, asthmatic patients and that the bronchial hyperresponsiveness was associated with the IgE-mediated response and the ages of asthmatic onsets. Next we examined the production of leukotriene (LT) B4 (LTB4) and LTC4 by peripheral blood leukocytes obtained from asthmatic patients and found that there was correlation between their production, and asthmatic attack or bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Furthermore, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), which shows airway inflammation, their clinical status was suggested to be associated with the production of LTB4 and LTC4. We also showed that the production of LTC4 in COPD patients was associated with the IgE-mediated allergy.
We noticed that the production of LTC4 tended to enhance during asthmatic attack as compared with its production during clinically controlled period. In addition, we showed that ECP and IL-5 in sputa and sera also tended to be elevated, whereas the prominent change of IL-4 levels was not recognized. The production of IL-5 by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of asthmatic patients was also shown to be elevated slightly.
These findings indicated that the airway inflammation during asthma was closely associated with the aging, IgE-mediated response and production of leukotrienes as well as cytokines, especially IL-5.
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