Center of Immunology and Allergology, Samara, Russia
Russ. J. Immunol. 2000, October 15, 5 (3), 315-319.
The participation of NK-cells in the regulation of an inflammatory process in different variants of bronchial asthma isn’t studied enough, that was the basis for conducting of this investigation. The aim of the work is to determine the character of changes of relative and absolute quantity of NK-cells in the patients’ peripheral blood in atopic (ABA) and aspirin-induced (AIA) bronchial asthma with regard for the level Ig E in the serum of the blood. The investigations were carried out with 140 patients with bronchial asthma at the age of 28-57 years old (80 women and 60 men). Among the examined patients 70 of them were with diagnosis AIA. Seventy examined patients had ABA. The control group was formed of 50 healthy volunteers at the age of 22-42 years old (30 women and 20 men) who had no manifestations of atopy. The phenotypic analysis of lymphocytes of peripheral blood was performed by the method of flow cytometry with the use of the equipment and reagents of the Becton Dickinson. The allergen-specific IgE were determined using MAST CLA method. The analysis of frequency incidence of NK deficiency among the examined patients with bronchial asthma with special reference to the level of IgE showed that the lowering of the quantity of NK cells was observed in 72.9% cases of ABA and only in 9.1% cases of AIA in the patients with high level IgE. Most often (in 87.9% cases) NK deficiency in AIA was pronounced among the patients with normal level of IgE. So, the results of the conducted investigation point to the different character of changes in the system of NK cells in patients with atopic and aspirin-induced bronchial asthma and also to the interrelation between the level of IgE and the content of NK cells in peripheral blood of the examined patients.