title: Elevation of soluble IL-2 receptor and IL-4, and nonelevation of IFN-gamma in sera from patients with allergic asthma.
abstract: To determine whether the predominant in vivo activation of Th1 subset or Th2 subset in peripheral blood occurs in patients with allergic asthma, we measured serum levels of Th1 cell-derived interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and Th2 cell-derived interleukin-4 (IL-4). In addition, serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) released from activated T cells were measured to determine a potential source of these cytokines. The elevation of serum IL-4 levels and nonelevation of serum IFN-gamma levels were observed in patients with allergic asthma compared with normal control subjects. A significant correlation between serum IL-4 levels and serum sIL-2R levels was observed in these patients. These results suggest that there is allergen-induced in vivo activation of Th2-like cells in peripheral blood of patients with allergic asthma.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amemiya
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobatashi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D012995:Solubility; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000737:chemistry; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma