Ana Lopes, Patrícia Azenha, Cristina Teodósio, Maria Inácio, Isabel Silva, Graça Loureiro,António Martinho, António S Luís, Hélder Trindade, Celso Pereira and Artur Paiva
Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology 2013, 9:40 doi:10.1186/1710-1492-9-40
Published: 11 October 2013Abstract (provisional)
Background
Basophils are important effectors cells in allergic rhinitis (AR) since they are involved in immunoglobulin (Ig) E -- mediated inflammation and in the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. Specific subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) provides clear immunologic modulation in some immune cells, however its systemic effects on basophils are not well known.
Methods
Peripheral blood (PB) samples from 43 patients with allergic rhinitis mono-sensitized to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dpt) [33 of them under SCIT with allergoid Dpt extract, in maintenance dose (SCIT), with evaluation just before SCIT injection (SCIT-T0) and 4 hours later (SCIT-T4) and the other 10 Dpt allergic patients never having, in the past, undergone specific immunotherapy treatment (NSIT)], and 15 healthy age- and gender-matched controls (HG), were analyzed. For each sample, the total (t-IgE) and specific IgE (s-IgE) was performed, as well as, the relative frequency and absolute number of PB basophils and receptor-bound IgE and IgG expression were evaluated by flow cytometry and the Histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) and tryptase alpha/beta1 (TPSAB1) gene expression was assessed by real-time PCR.
Results
Higher levels of receptor-bound IgE were observed in SCIT patients, which are correlated with the levels of serum t-IgE and s-IgE, whereas no significant differences were observed for receptor-bound IgG. Regarding HNMT mRNA expression, significantly lower expression levels were detected in AR patients compared to HG, independently of type of therapy. Moreover a negative correlation was found between HNMT gene expression and time under SCIT. Conversely, tryptase gene expression was significantly up-regulated in NSIT when compared to HG; however in SCIT patients, tryptase gene expression was significantly decreased than in NSIT patients. No differences were found for any parameter between SCIT-T0 and SCIT-T4 with exception of a transient increased expression of tryptase in SCIT-T4.
Conclusion
PB basophils from patients with AR show altered functional features, which seems to be influenced by SCIT, suggesting that these cells could be useful to clarify the SCIT triggered mechanisms at a systemic level.
The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production. |
No comments:
Post a Comment