Eosinophilic inflammation is associated with elevation of interleukin-5 in the airways of patients with spontaneous symptomatic asthma.
In vitro and in vivo studies have shown an important role for interleukin-5 (IL-5) in regulating eosinophil proliferation, survival, and effector function. Because eosinophilic inflammation is an important component of symptomatic episodes of asthma, we have investigated whether increased levels of IL-5 protein are present in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of patients with spontaneously symptomatic asthma (FEV1, l61% predicted; FEF25%-75%, 30% predicted) compared with patients with asymptomatic asthma (FEV1, 88% predicted; FEF25%-l75%, 76% predicted). The percent of BAL eosinophils (10.5% vs 0.6]) (p = 0.0001) and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (386.0 ng/ml vs 6.3 ng/ml) (p = 0.0001) was greater in BAL fluids derived from patients with symptomatic asthma compared with patients with asymptomatic asthma. Levels of IL-5 measured with an immunoradiometric assay were significantly higher in patients with symptomatic asthma (n = 26) compared with those with asymptomatic asthma (n = 18) (274 pg/ml vs < pg/ml) (p = 0.02). The increased IL-5 levels were noted in a subset of patients with symptomatic asthma with BAL absolute eosinophil counts greater than 10(6) (IL-5, 664 pg/ml; n = 10) as opposed to patients with symptomatic asthma with BAL eosinophil counts less than 10(6) (IL-5, < 13 pg/ml; n = 16) (p = 0.005). This study suggests that IL-5 is not only induced in experimental models of allergen-induced asthma but can also be detected as asthma progresses from the asymptomatic to the clinically symptomatic state in subjects with significant BAL eosinophilia.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D047208:Eosinophil-Derived Neurotoxin; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015592:Immunoradiometric Assay; D015848:Interleukin-5 / Q000378:metabolism*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D011657:Pulmonary Eosinophilia / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012260:Ribonucleases
D015848:Interleukin-5; D009498:Neurotoxins; D047208:Eosinophil-Derived Neurotoxin; D012260:Ribonucleases