Background: Atopic asthma is driven and maintained by an array of cells from peripheral blood and airways. It is suggested that the key role play T cells, especially their CD4 positive subpopulation. CD8+, memory and naïve lymphocytes might be also involved in the pathogenesis of asthma.
Aim: The goal of the study was to assess difference between relative number of in lymphocytes subpopulations from peripheral blood between asthmatic and healthy children.
Material and methods: Twenty-five individuals aged 8.13 ±3.08 years old, 21 boys and 4 girls, suffering from atopic asthma and allergic rhinitis, shortlisted for specific immunotherapy, served as studied group. Fifteen healthy individuals, aged 9.83 ±3.37 years old, 7 boys and 8 girls, served as a control group. The flow cytometric assessment of CD2, CD4, CD8, CD45RA and CD45RO antigens expression on cells from peripheral blood collected to tubes containing EDTA was performed with Cytomics FC500 flow cytometer (Beckman Coulter).
Results: In the group of asthmatic children 75.6% (68.59; 79.3) of CD2+ T cells were identified, whereas 79.36% (77.62; 82.34) of CD2pos cells were detected in control group, p = 0.006. There was no difference in the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells between analyzed groups. Children suffering from asthma had significantly lower percentage of memory cells compared with control group, 26.83% (24.93; 34.22) vs. 39.04% (32.78; 41.65), p = 0.004 respectively. Groups did not differ in percentage of naI¨ve PBMC.
Conclusions: Lack of differences between percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells might suggest, that both populations are involved in asthma pathogenesis and their absolute number change simultaneously. Low CD45RO+ cells percentage could reflect successful treatment and adequate control of asthmatic inflammation.