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

哮喘的状态和呼吸道炎症反应之间存在正相关。据信，在敏感的受试者中，暴露于致病抗原会加剧哮喘发作。夜间哮喘可以被认为是一种慢性呼吸道炎症引起持续的致病抗原刺激的情况。我们专注于中性粒细胞作为哮喘的效应细胞。我们通过测量超氧化物的生成来研究致病抗原对哮喘受试者中性粒细胞的影响。无论是哮喘患者还是对照组的中性粒细胞中，抗原对超氧化物的产生都没有影响。然而，当中性粒细胞与致病抗原预先孵育时，PMA刺激的超氧阴离子产生显著增加。作为对中性粒细胞抗原特异性反应的解释，我们假设：中性粒细胞上存在抗原特异性的免疫球蛋白G分子，哮喘中性粒细胞表面的免疫球蛋白分子与过敏原特异结合，因此中性粒细胞被激活。因此，哮喘患者的中性粒细胞通过携带免疫球蛋白抗体对特定的致病抗原作出反应，产生超氧阴离子，而中性粒细胞的这种作用似乎与夜间哮喘有关。

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.