Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 156, Number 5, November 1997, 1384-1389

Expression of Interleukin-5 and Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor in Aspirin-sensitive and Non-Aspirin-sensitive Asthmatic Airways

ANA R. SOUSA, BORIS E. A. LAMS, RUDOLF PFISTER, PANDORA E. CHRISTIE, MICHAEL SCHMITZ, and TAK H. LEE

Department of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine, Guy's Hospital, United Kingdom, and Hochgebirgsklinik, Davos-Wolfgang, Switzerland

Increased numbers of eosinophils and mast cells in the bronchial mucosa are characteristic features in subjects with aspirin-sensitive asthma. Interleukin-5 (IL-5) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are involved in the activation, maturation, and perpetuation of survival of eosinophils. Immunohistochemical techniques were therefore used to study the expression of IL-5 and GM-CSF on frozen bronchial biopsies from 13 aspirin-sensitive asthmatic (ASA) and 8 non-ASA (NASA) subjects. Aspirin sensitivity was diagnosed by lysine-aspirin inhalation provocation. ASA airways demonstrated a significant 2-fold increase in the total number of submucosal inflammatory cells expressing IL-5 (p = 0.03) and approximate 4 - and 2-fold increases in the numbers of mast cells expressing IL-5 and GM-CSF (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04, respectively). There was also a 4-fold increase in the number of eosinophils expressing IL-5 (p = 0.004). These results suggest a central role for the mast cell and eosinophil in regulation of the inflammatory cell infiltrate of ASA airways by secretion of the hemopoietic cytokines IL-5 and GM-CSF.

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