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T‐cell cytokine pattern at three time points during specific immunotherapy for mite‐sensitive asthma
Author(s) -
Maria Majori,
Antonella Caminati,
Massimo Corradi,
Ettore Brianti,
Susanna Scarpa,
Alberto Pesci
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
clinical and experimental allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.462
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1365-2222
pISSN - 0954-7894
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2222.2000.00701.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cytokine , immunotherapy , immunology , asthma , cd8 , interferon gamma , ionomycin , salbutamol , allergy , t cell , interleukin 4 , immune system , stimulation
Backgrounds Several lines of evidence indicate that specific immunotherapy may act by modifying the patterns of cytokines produced by helper T cells. However, different protocols have been used and different results obtained. Objectives To quantify the effect of specific immunotherapy on the TH1/TH2 T‐cell cytokine pattern at the single cell level. Methods We examined the interferon‐γ/interleukin‐4 ratio in peripheral blood CD4 + and CD8 + T cells from 12 subjects with house dust mite‐sensitive asthma using a flow cytometric method of intracellular cytokine detection. Cytokine production was determined following stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate/ionomycin, a policlonal activator. Subjects were examined at three occasions: before specific immunotherapy, after the 3‐months dose increase phase and after 1 year of treatment. During the treatment year patients kept a diary in which they recorded: (a) symptoms of asthma according to a 0–3 grading (0 = absent, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe); (b) number of puffs (100 μg) per day of salbutamol required to control symptoms; and (c) peak expiratory flow. Results Specific immunotherapy improved clinical indices of disease activity including symptom scores and medication use during the treatment year, and had a marked effect in increasing the interferon‐γ/interleukin‐4 ratio in peripheral blood CD4 + T cells already after the dose increase phase (5.47 ± 1.5 vs 4.07 ± 1.49%, P = 0.03) with and a further rise after 1 year's treatment (16.12 ± 2.8 vs 4.07 ± 1.49 and 16.12 ± 2.8 vs 5.47 ± 1.5%, P = 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). There were no significant changes in the interferon‐γ/interleukin‐4 ratio in peripheral blood CD8 + T cells at the three times of the study. Conclusions These data add to view that the efficacy of specific immunotherapy may be attributed to a modified cytokine secretion of CD4 + T cells.