By David Douglas
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – Blood eosinophil and fractional inhaled nitric oxide (FENO) levels are increased in atopic asthmatic children, compared with their nonatopic counterparts, Italian researchers report in the November issue of Thorax.
Dr. Giovanni A. Rossi of the G. Gaslini Institute in Genoa and colleagues evaluated possible differences in levels of inflammatory markers in atopic and nonatopic asthmatic children.
Accordingly, the researchers studied 112 steroid-naive children with stable mild intermittent asthma. All showed bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine challenge, 56 were nonatopic, 23 were sensitive to dust mite alone and the remaining 33 were polysensitized.
The atopic patients had significantly higher rates of blood eosinophilia than those in the nonatopic group. Measures of pulmonary function, including FEV1, and reactivity to methacholine, did not differ among groups.
In addition, FENO levels were significantly higher in asthmatics than in controls and higher in atopic asthmatics than nonatopic asthmatics. A significant correlation between FENO and blood eosinophil levels was seen only in the allergic groups.
Dr. Rossi told Reuters Health that "the presence of higher blood eosinophil counts and FENO levels in allergic asthmatics than in nonallergic asthmatics may reflect different pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the two asthma phenotypes, leading to the activation of different cell subpopulations and/or different cytokine production."
In light of this, he added "further studies are needed to understand the molecular mechanisms leading to NO production in the lower airways of atopic and nonatopic subjects with asthma."
Thorax 2001;56:857-862.
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