title: Nasal and pharyngeal eosinophil peroxidase levels in adults with poorly controlled asthma correlate with sputum eosinophilia.
abstract: The objective of the study was to compare nasal, pharyngeal, and sputum eosinophil peroxidase (EPX) levels with induced sputum eosinophil percentage in 10 adults with poorly controlled asthma and 10 normal controls. EPX was measured using an ELISA and normalized for grams of protein for nasal and pharynx specimens and for mL-gram of protein for sputum. Sputum EPX levels were statistically different between asthma and control subjects (P = 0.024). EPX levels measured in the nasal and pharyngeal swab samples derived from the same patients were also different between asthma and control subjects, each displaying a high degree of significance (P = 0.002). Spearman's correlation coefficients for nasal EPX and pharyngeal EPX levels compared to induced sputum eosinophil percentage were 0.81 (P = 0.0007) and 0.78 (P = 0.0017), respectively. Thus, there is a strong association in a given patient between both nasal and pharyngeal EPX levels and the eosinophil percentage of induced sputum.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy, Asthma, Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rank
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Ochkur
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy, Asthma, Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy, Asthma, Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Teaford
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wesselius
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Critical Care, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Helmers
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St. Joseph's Healthcare & McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019468:Disease Management; D047209:Eosinophil Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism*; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000378:metabolism*; D013183:Sputum / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D047209:Eosinophil Peroxidase
keywords: asthma; diagnostics; eosinophil granule proteins; eosinophils; sputum