小児気管支喘息の病態進行に対する好中球の関与に関する研究

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A positive association between the state of asthma and airway inflammatory response has been suggested. It is believed that, in sensitive subjects, exposure to causative antigens exacerbates attacks of asthma. Nocturnal asthma can be regarded as a condition in which chronic inflammation of the airways provokes continuous causative antigen stimulation. We focused on neutrophils as effector cells in asthma. We investigated the effect of causative antigens on the neutrophils from asthmatic subjects by measuring superoxide generation. Antigen had no effect on superoxide production in either the neutrophils of the asthmatics or those of control subjects. However, when the neutrophils of astmatics were preincubated with causative antigens, PMA-stimulatcd superoxide anion production was markedly increased. As an explanation of the antigen-specific response in neutrophils, we postulate that : antigen-specific IgG molecules were present on neutrophils, and the IgG molecules on the surface of the asthmatic neutrophils bound specifically for allergens, and consequently neutrophils were primed. Thus, the neutrophils of asthmatic subjects respond to specific causative antigens via the bearing of IgG antibodies, producing superoxide anions, and this action of neutrophils seems to contribute to nocturnal asthma.