Copyright ©ERS Journals Ltd 2003 Regular salbutamol use increases CXCL8 responses in asthma: relationship to the eosinophil response1 Immunology Research Group, University of Saskatchewan, and the Divisions of, 2 Respiratory Medicine and 3 Dermatology, Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon, SK, Canada CORRESPONDENCE: J.R. Gordon, Dept of Veterinary Microbiology, 52 Campus Drive, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5B4. Fax: 1 3069667244. E-mail: john.gordon@usask.ca Keywords: allergy, asthma, cytokines, eosinophils, salbutamol, sputum
Received: April 15, 2002
This work was supported by grants from the Saskatchewan Lung Association and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Regular salbutamol use can exacerbate allergen-induced airway eosinophilia in asthmatics, but its effect on airway eosinophil chemokine responses is unknown.
Asthmatic subjects (n=14) were treated for 10 days with placebo or salbutamol in a double-blind, cross-over study, then given same-dose allergen challenges. Their sputa were then analysed 1 and 7 h later for a panel of eosinophil-related cytokines. Eosinophils from five test and three control subjects were tested for expression of CXCL8/interleukin (IL)-8, and its receptors and responsiveness to CCL11/eotaxin and CXCL8/IL-8.
Sputum CXCL8/IL-8, but not IL-5, CCL5/regulated on activation, T-cell expressed and secreted, CCL7/monocyte chemotactic protein-3, CCL11/eotaxin, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor or tumour necrosis factor levels, were increased (42%) by the salbutamol treatments. The CXCL8/IL-8 levels correlated with the proportions of sputum eosinophils and these cells, but not other sputum cells, stained strongly for CXCL8/IL-8. The circulating eosinophils of the tested subjects (n=5) expressed CXCL8/IL-8 receptors and secreted high levels of this chemokine. Neutralisation of sputum CXCL8/IL-8 reduced eosinophil chemotactic responses to these samples by 19±5%.
These data suggest that regular use of salbutamol can augment airway CXCL8/interleukin-8 responses to allergen challenge and that this CXCL8/interleukin-8 could contribute to the airway inflammatory response.
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