BACTERIAL ADHESION TO OROPHARYNGEAL AND BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL-CELLS INSMOKERS WITH CHRONIC-BRONCHITIS AND IN HEALTHY NONSMOKERS

Bacterial adhesion is probably a prerequisite for colonization of muco us membranes, but adhesion to the bronchial mucosa has not been studie d in detail. We investigated adhesion of respiratory pathogens to bron chial epithelial cells, and asked whether chronic bronchitis had an in fluence on bacterial adhesion. Oropharyngeal and bronchial cells were collected during bronchoscopy from 14 healthy nonsmokers, 22 smokers w ith nonobstructive chronic bronchitis, and 19 smokers with chronic bro nchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients wit h a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) less than 50% pred icted were excluded. Adhesion of highly adherent test strains of H. in fluenzae and S. pneumoniae to these cells were studied. The test strai ns of H. influenzae and S. pneumoniae were found to adhere well to bot h oropharyngeal and bronchial cells. H. influenzae showed a higher deg ree of adhesion both to ciliated and goblet cells from the patients wi th nonobstructive bronchitis than to cells from the healthy nonsmokers . No corresponding difference was found for 5. pneumoniae. The patient s with COPD did not differ from the controls in their adhesion values. Our results indicate that bacterial adhesion is of importance for the colonization and retention of H. influenzae in the human airways. For S. pneumoniae the role of adhesion is more uncertain.