title: [Urinary leukotrience E(4) level in children with asthma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cysteinyl leukotriene (CysLTs) plays an important role in airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma. Measurement of urinary leukotriene E(4) (LTE(4)) is a sensitive and noninvasive method of assaying total body CysLTs level. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of urinary leukotriene E(4) (LTE(4)) in childhood asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty children with acute asthma were randomly divided into montelukast (leukotriene receptor antagonist) treatment and conventional treatment groups (n = 30 each). Urinary LTE(4) levels were measured using ELISA and the airway resistance Rint was assessed by the lung function instrument at the acute and the convalescence phases. Twenty healthy children were used as the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Urinary LTE(4) levels in asthmatic children at the acute and the convalescence phases were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.01). The urinary LTE(4) levels at the convalescence phase were significantly reduced compared with those at the acute phase in asthmatic children (p<0.01). More significantly decreased urinary LTE(4) levels were noted in the montelukast treatment group than the conventional treatment group at the convalescence phase (p<0.01). In the acute phase, there was no correlation between urinary LTE4 level and Rint in asthmatic children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urinary LTE(4) level is significantly increased in children with acute asthma. Urinary LTE(4) is a useful marker for the diagnosis of asthma and can be as a predictor of asthma control and marker of susceptibility to treatment with leukotriene receptor antagonists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jiangxi Children's Hospital, Nanchang 330006, China.
authors.forename: Mei-Juan
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jian-Mei
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000403:Airway Resistance; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D017999:Leukotriene E4 / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D017999:Leukotriene E4