Intracellular IL-5 expression by peripheral blood CD4[+] and CD8[+] T-cells in atopic and non-atopic asthma

There is evidence of CD8[+] and CD4[+] peripheral blood T cell activation in childhood atopic asthma. However, the immunopathology of non-atopic asthma in children remains unclear. We sought to investigate the intracellular IL-5 expression by peripheral blood CD4[+] and CD8[+] T cells in atopic and non-atopic asthmatic children in relation to asthma grading and severity of exacerbation, as well as is possible correlation to various inflammatory markers of asthma. The study comprised 35 atopic and 35 non-atopic asthmatic children enrolled during activity and 30 clinically healthy children. They were subjected to flow cytometric assessment of intracellular IL-5 expression in CD4[+] and CD8[+] T cell subsets as well as absolute eosinophil count, serum total IgE, eosinophil cationic protein [ECP], and urinary Leukotriene E4 [LTE4] estimation. Asthmatic children compiled all together and the atopic group showed highly significant increase in absolute eosinophil count, IgE% from high normal for age, serum ECP, urinary LTE4 / creatinine ratio, intracellular CD4[+] IL5, and CD8[+] IL5 T cell numbers as compared to the control group. Similar results were observed between the non-atopic asthmatic children and the control group. When the atopic and non-atopic asthmatic children were compared, the former group showed significantly higher values of all study parameters except the urinary LTE4, urinary creatinine ratio, and CD8[+] IL5 frequency. CD4[+] IL5 T cell number correlated positively with the absolute eosinophil count, IgE% and serum eosinophil cationic protein among the 70 asthmatic patients. Stepwise multi-regression analysis revealed CD4[+] IL-5 frequency to be an inverse independent variable for asthma exacerbation. Likewise, IL-5 production, either CD4[+] or CD8[+] T cells was an inverse independent variable for grading of asthma severity. Both CD8[+] and CD4[+] T cells contribute to the IL-5 production in asthmatic children whether atopic or non-atopic during disease activity. CD4[+] T cell IL-5 frequency estimation could be a useful marker for asthma exacerbation severity and both CD4[+] and CD8[+] T cell IL-5 frequencies might serve as markers for asthma grading

Diagnostic value of alpha-fetoprotein in both amniotic fluid and serum of premature and full term deliveries

The study was conducted upon 22 cases of fullterm newborns and 16 cases of premature newborns. 11 fullterm and 8 premature cord blood samples were taken. In other 11 fullterm and other 8 premature deliveries amniotic fluid samples were taken to determine the level of Alpha-Fetoprotein [AFP]. Our aim of this study is to evaluate the level of AFP in serum and amniotic fluid of fullterm and premature newborns.The results of our study was that the level of serum AFP was significantly higher in our premature newborns than in fullterm group with the fact that the earlier the gestational age of the newborns the higher will be the serum level of AFP in most cases. As regard the amniotic fluid estimation for AFP in fullterm and premature deliveries it was higher in premature deliveries than in the other group. It was found that the level of AFP was greatly affected by the factor of gestational age rather than the factor of body weight of newborns

Determination of immunoglobulin E [Ige] and complement III [C3] in children with giardiasis

The relationship between giardiasis and immunity has attracted the attentions of many investigators; but in this work, another class of immunoglobulins was studied, since it is interested here to study immunoglobulin E [IgE] and complement III [C[3]] in addition to blood eosinophils in affected children with Giardia lamblia infections. 24 cases and 20 normal children [as controls] were subjected to this work. Quantitative estimation of serum IgE and C[3] by radial immuno-diffusion was done. A significant increase in the serum level of IgE was found in 45.9% of cases while the serum level of C[3] was found to be significancly low in them. The blood eosinophilic count was increased in 41.8% of cases. The normal level of IgE and C[3] in the Egyptian children was found different from the recorded levels of Europian and American children