Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 152, No. 4, Oct 1995, 1290-1296.
Nasal lavage cytokines in normal, allergic, and asthmatic school-age children
TL Noah, FW Henderson, MM Henry, DB Peden and RB Devlin
Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Inflammation can be demonstrated in the airway mucosa of asthmatics, even
in the absence of overt symptoms, but the pathogenesis of this chronic
inflammation is incompletely defined. It has been suggested that
inflammatory cytokines produced by epithelium may play important roles in
this process. Therefore, we measured the cytokines interleukin- 8 (IL-8),
IL-6, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in
nasal lavage fluids from school-age children who were (1) "normal"
(nonallergic/nonasthmatic), (2) allergic to house-dust mite antigen but
nonasthmatic (no history of wheezing), or (3) allergic and asthmatic
(history of > or = 10 wheezing episodes). Children underwent a single
nasal lavage procedure while asymptomatic and on no anti- inflammatory
medications or anti-histamines. In addition to cytokine concentrations,
cell counts, differentials, albumin, histamine, and eosinophil cationic
protein (ECP) concentrations were determined in nasal lavage fluids.
Significant increases in IL-8 and ECP were observed in asthmatics compared
with both normals and allergic nonasthmatics. Overall, IL-8 in nasal lavage
fluids correlated significantly with ECP. Allergic nonasthmatics did not
have significant increases in cytokines or other mediators compared with
normal subjects. Concentrations of IL-6 did not differ significantly among
the three groups, and GM-CSF was undetectable in all samples tested. We
conclude that increased IL-8 production and eosinophil activation are
characteristic of the airways of asthmatic children when asymptomatic, and
we speculate that IL-8 plays a role in the maintenance of airway
inflammation in asthma.
