IDENTIFICATION OF ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC HORMONE-RESISTANT BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES TO PREDICT EFFICIENCY OF GLUCOCORTICOID THERAPY IN BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Abstract

Abstract. At present time, the main therapeutic goal in bronchial asthma treatment is to achieve complete control of the disease. Appropriate medical evaluation involves a complex system of clinical criteria and functional parameters obtained by instrumental and laboratory techniques. Wide application of inhalatory glucocorticosteroids (IGCS) in childhood bronchial asthma treatment, requirements for a long-term therapy, and common IGCS dose-escalation regimens determine an importance of searching novel objective criteria to predict efficiency of the therapy preformed. In present work, we propose a method aimed to identify glucocorticosteroid-resistant lymphocytes in peripheral blood of the patients with bronchial asthma undergoing IGCS therapy. The results of this study have shown that clinical efficiency of such treatment of bronchial asthma patients, independently on the IGCS dosage, may be evaluated by the degree of steroid-induced suppression of in vitro lymphocyte proliferation caused by a domestic dust antigen. The data obtained may be used in clinical settings to predict efficiency of IGCS therapy and adjust treatment regimens in bronchial asthma patients. (Med. Immunol., 2011, vol. 13, N 2-3, pp 157-166)

Keywords

• bronchial asthma
• inhalatory glucocorticosteroids
• resistance
• lymphocyte proliferation