Substance P and IgE-mediated allergy. I. Transient increase in airway responsiveness to allergen in primates.
Studies of IgE-mediated asthma in rhesus monkeys have shown that the animals have individual characteristics analogous to the individuality of human asthmatic patients. In the current study we evaluated the effect of aerosolized substance P (SP) and an allergen, ascaris antigen (A), on monkeys that had cutaneous and/or airway reactivity to A. When SP and A were aerosolized sequentially in the same experiment in two monkeys that had had IgE-mediated airway responses that had disappeared with time and in one monkey that had only had cutaneous reactivity to A, an airway response to A occurred. Furthermore, on subsequent challenges, the airway response persisted in the absence of SP exposure. In two other monkeys, SP and A given sequentially in the same experiment induced airway responses to A using a concentration of A that was too dilute to give a reaction in either monkey in previous experiments. The airway response to dilute A then persisted for months in the absence of further SP exposure. We conclude that bronchial challenge of SP in combination with allergen induces an immediate response that would not occur with allergen alone and that this heightened airway response to allergen persists for months as a result of interaction of the neurokinin SP and an IgE-mediated immunologic reaction in the airway.
Patterson
R
R
Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL 60611.
Harris
K E
KE
D000336:Aerosols; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001200:Ascaris / Q000276:immunology; D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests; D005260:Female; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000276:immunology*; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology; D013373:Substance P / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000336:Aerosols; D000485:Allergens; D013373:Substance P; D007073:Immunoglobulin E