EFFECT OF RHINOVIRUS 39 INFECTION ON CELLULAR IMMUNE PARAMETERS IN ALLERGIC AND NONALLERGIC SUBJECTS

Patients with allergic rhinitis (AR), compared with nonallergic person s, have been reported to respond differently to a variety of stimuli, some of which are immunologic in nature. This study compared the syste mic cellular immune responses to experimental rhinovirus (RV) 39 chall enge in RV-39-seronegative AR (n = 20) and nonallergic (n = 18) subjec ts. Peripheral blood was obtained before, 4 or 7 days after, and 23 da ys after RV-39 intranasal challenge and assayed for the number and fun ction of various white blood cells. All subjects were infected, as man ifested by viral shedding in nasal secretions or seroconversion. RV-39 induced marked changes from baseline values in both immune cell numbe r and functions. Compared with nonallergic subjects, AR subjects manif ested different responses for the following parameters: (1) numbers of total white blood cells and lymphocytes (smaller increases on day 4), (2) helper/suppressor T cell ratio (absence of an increase on day 7 a nd presence of an increase on day 23), (3) number of IL-2 receptor-pos itive suppressor T cells (presence of a decrease on day 7), (4) natura l killer (NK) cell numbers (absence of an increase on day 4 and presen ce of increases on days 7 and 23), (5) NK/T cell ratio (absence of an increase on day 4 and a decrease on day 7), (6) NK cell activity (a bl unted decrease on day 7 and absence of a decrease on day 23), and (7) RV-39-induced lymphocyte proliferation (exaggerated increase on day 4) . The results show that intranasal challenge with RV-39 induced RV-39- specific and nonspecific systemic cellular immune responses and a uniq ue immunologic response pattern in AR subjects.