DIFFERENT CYTOKINE PATTERNS IN BRONCHIAL BIOPSIES IN ASTHMA AND CHRONIC-BRONCHITIS

Bronchial biopsies have made possible the detailed study of the pathol ogy of the airways of humans with respiratory disease. Much data has b een accumulated on asthmatics or normal controls but much less is know n about chronic bronchitics. The aim of this study was to characterize the cellular and cytokine pattern seen in chronic bronchitics and to compare these with control and asthmatic subjects. The patients were a lso characterized clinically. In this study, immunocytochemistry on cr yostat sections from bronchial biopsies were used to determine the lev el of inflammatory cells and cells of the immune system as well as the pattern of cytokines. This study revealed a distinct cellular and cyt okine pattern for each of the three different patient groups, although the diversity of the cytokines analysed was limited by the size of th e biopsies. In the inflammatory infiltrate of patients with asthma, CD 4+ T-cells and eosinophils were the most prominent cell types discerne d. All of the expected cytokines such as IL-1, TNF-alpha, IL-4, IL-5 a nd IFN-gamma were found. In contrast, the emphasis in chronic bronchit ic patients was quite different. The predominant cell types were macro phages, neutrophils, mast cells and CD8+ T-cells, but eosinophils were also abundant. In addition, IL-4 and TNF-alpha were the only cytokine s present of those tested.