ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the relationship among the proliferation of CD4+T cells, the intracellular levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor-?1(TGF-?1), and allergic bronchial asthma. Methods Dermatophagoides farinae antigen were prepared as allergen. Twenty-five patients with asthma and 15 healthy individuals were enrolled and divided into blank control group, allergen group and self control group, respectively, after venous blood sample collection. The proliferation of CD4+T cells and the distributions of CD4+/IL-10+, CD4+/TGF-?+1 and CD4+/IL-10+/TGF-?+1 were measuredby flow cytometry (FCM). Results The distributions of CD4+/IL-10+, CD4+/TGF-?+1 and CD4+/IL-10+/TGF-?+1 could hardly be detected in the peripheral blood samples of the blank controls of the patients with asthma and healthy ones. In the allergen group of the healthy individuals, the peripheral blood CD4+T cells were significantly proliferated, and the proportions of CD4+T cells andCD4+/IL-10+ cells were much higher than the self control group, while there was no significantly increase in the proportions of CD4+/TGF-?+1 and CD4+/IL-10+/TGF-?+1 subgroups. In the allergen group of those with asthma, the proportions of peripheral blood CD4+, CD4+/IL-10+, CD4+/TGF-?+1 and CD4+/IL-10+/TGF-?+1 cells were not found significantly increased compared with those self controls. After being activated by allergen, the proportion of peripheral blood CD4+/IL-10+ cells was significantly lower in the patients with asthma than the healthy individuals(P