Basic and clinical immunologyQuantitative and functional impairment of pulmonary CD4+CD25hi regulatory T cells in pediatric asthma
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Patients
Eighteen children with asthma, 10 children with chronic cough, and 13 control children without lung diseases were characterized18, 19 and included in this study (see Table E1 in the Online Repository at www.jacionline.org). For a detailed patient characterization, see the Methods section in the Online Repository at www.jacionline.org.
Bronchoalveolar lavage
Bronchoscopy was performed by using a flexible bronchoscope with an outer diameter of 3.5 mm in children less than 10 years of age and a 4.9-mm diameter in older
Decreased CD4+CD25hi T cells in BALF of children with asthma
Taking all groups together, peripheral blood T cells included a median of 5% total CD4+CD25hi+low T cells (range, 4% to 8%) and a median of 1.9% CD4+CD25hi T cells (range, 1.4% to 2.4%), whereas BALF T cells contained a median of 12% CD4+CD25hi+low T cells (range, 2% to 19%) and a median of 6.5% CD4+CD25hi T cells (range, 1% to 10.2%). CD4+CD25hi T cells in peripheral blood and BALF were CD45RO+ (95% and 90%, respectively) and did not express the early activation marker CD69. In peripheral
Discussion
The present work demonstrates, for the first time in human subjects, that CD4+CD25hi T cells are enriched in the bronchoalveolar space compared with in peripheral blood and are fully capable of suppressing T-cell responses. However, in asthmatic children pulmonary CD4+CD25hi T cells are decreased in number and fail to suppress TH2 responses. Inhaled corticosteroid treatment in asthmatic subjects increases pulmonary CD4+CD25hi T cells and restores their suppressive function.
With few exceptions,23
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Cited by (0)
Supported by grants from the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Stiftung and the Friedrich-Baur-Stiftung, a grant of the University and Science Program of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (HWP), and by the Clinical Cooperation Groups “Pediatric Immune Regulation” and “Immune Monitoring.” Dominik Hartl, MD, is supported by the Society for Pediatric Pneumology (GPP).
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: The authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.