Original article
Leukotrienes, LTC4 and LTB4, in bronchoalveolar lavage in bronchial asthma and other respiratory diseases

https://doi.org/10.1016/0091-6749(89)90173-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Leukotrienes (LTs) C4 and B4 are potent proinflammatory mediators with a wide variety of biologic activities, including smooth muscle contraction, mucus hypersecretion, and leukocyte activation, which may be of particular relevance to the pathology of asthma and other respiratory diseases. We measured the concentrations of LTC4 and LTB4 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from 16 atopic subjects with asthma (eight symptomatic and eight asymptomatic) and from 14 control subjects without asthma (six with hay fever and eight nonatopic). The amounts detected in symptomatic subjects with asthma were significantly higher than in control subjects (LTB4, 0.58 ± 0.06 versus 0.36 ± 0.05 pmol/ml, p < 0.05; LTC4, 0.36 ± 0.1 versus 0.12 ± 0.02 pmol/ml, p < 0.01). LTC4 and LTB4 were also measured in 17 patients: nine with interstitial lung disease of varying etiology (cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis [CFA] or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), three with sarcoidosis, one with extrinsic allergic alveolitis, one with sulphonamide-induced pneumonia, and one patient with eosinophilic granuloma. The concentrations of LTB4 (but not LTC4) were significantly greater in patients with CFA compared with normal control subjects (0.69 ± 0.3 versus 0.36 ± 0.05 pmol/ml, p < 0.01). There was a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between the percentage of neutrophils and the concentration of LTB4 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) of the group with interstitial lung disease as a whole. This study provides evidence for a role for LTs in the airways of subjects with day-to-day asthma and suggests that LTB4 may also be involved in the recruitment of granulocytes into the lung in patients with CFA.

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    Supported by the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) and the Clinical Research Committee of the National Heart and Chest Hospitals, London, England.

    1

    From the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Cardiothoracic Institute, London, England.

    From the Brompton Hospital, London, England.

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