Source: Annual Congress 2001 - Molecular and cellular pathology of asthma
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Eosinophilic bronchitis (EB)is a common cause of chronic cough, which like asthma is characterised by sputum eosinophilia, but in contrast to asthma there is no variable airflow obstruction or airway hyperresponsiveness. Our hypothesis was that the differences in airway pathophysiology maybe related to phenotypic differences between the airway T-cells in eosinophilic bronchitis and asthma.
13 subjects with EB, 12 with asthma and 8 normal controls underwent a fibreoptic bronchoscopy and 180ml bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to the middle lobe. After filtration the BAL was processed to produce cytospins for differential cell counting. The remaining BAL cells were labelled with monoclonal antibodies to CD3-RPE, CD4-PerCP direct conjugates and to CD8, activation markers (CD25, HLA-DR and CD49a) and chemokine receptors (CCR3, 5, 6, C-X-CR3) indirectly labelled with FITC with appropriate isotypic controls and were analysed by three-colour flow cytometry.
The geometric mean (log SEM) BAL eosinophil count was significantly higher in the subjects with EB 1.8 (0.16)% (mean fold difference, 4.9; 95% CI, 1.5-15) and asthma 1.6 (0.07)% (4.3; 1.6-11)than the normal controls 0.4 (0.17)%. There were no differences in the total number of cells recovered or other differential cell counts. No differences were seen in the proportion of CD3+ cells expressing activation or chemokine receptors between the groups (see table).
In conclusion, BAL T-cell phenotypes are not different in terms of activation, chemokine receptor or CD4 expression between EB, asthma and normal controls.
Table. Median (IQR)% of CD3+ cells expressing CD4, chemokine and activation markers.

	CD4	CD25	CD49a	HLA-DR	CCR3	CCR5	CCR6	C-X-CR3
EB	59.5 (27)	26.5 (23)	70.7 (23)	81.5 (12)	6.5(10)	94 (4)	48 (21)	93 (14)
Asthma	57.5 (22)	29 (20)	64 (14)	74 (30)	12.5 (13)	94 (10)	53.5 (28)	87.5 (15)
Normal	55 (34)	36.5 (16)	61.5 (24)	67.9 (35)	10 (6)	91 (9)	46 (22)	91 (21)

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Citations should be made in the following way:
C. E. Brightling, F. A. Symon, I. D. Pavord, A. J. Wardlaw (Leicester, United Kingdom). Expression of markers of activation and chemokine receptors by bronchoalveolar lavage T-cells from subjects with asthma, eosinophilic bronchitis and normal controls. Eur Respir J 2001; 16: Suppl. 31, 3561

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