The relationship between eosinophilia and airway remodelling in mild asthma

Summary Background Eosinophilia is a marker of corticosteroid responsiveness and risk of exacerbation in asthma; although it has been linked to submucosal matrix deposition, its relationship with other features of airway remodelling is less clear. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and experimental allergy 2013-12, Vol.43 (12), p.1342-1350
Main Authors: Wilson, S. J., Rigden, H. M., Ward, J. A., Laviolette, M., Jarjour, N. N., Djukanović, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Airway Remodeling
asthma
Asthma - immunology
Asthma - metabolism
Asthma - pathology
Case-Control Studies
eosinophil
Eosinophilia - pathology
epithelium
Female
goblet cell
Goblet Cells - pathology
Humans
Hyperplasia
inflammation
Male
Middle Aged
Mucins - metabolism
Muscle, Smooth - metabolism
Muscle, Smooth - pathology
remodelling
Respiratory Mucosa - immunology
Respiratory Mucosa - metabolism
Respiratory Mucosa - pathology
smooth muscle
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary Background Eosinophilia is a marker of corticosteroid responsiveness and risk of exacerbation in asthma; although it has been linked to submucosal matrix deposition, its relationship with other features of airway remodelling is less clear. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between airway eosinophilia and airway remodelling. Methods Bronchial biopsies from subjects (n = 20 in each group) with mild steroid‐naïve asthma, with either low (0–0.45 mm−2)) or high submucosal eosinophil (23.43–46.28 mm−2) counts and healthy controls were assessed for in vivo epithelial damage (using epidermal growth factor receptor staining), mucin expression, airway smooth muscle (ASM) hypertrophy and inflammatory cells within ASM. Results The proportion of in vivo damaged epithelium was significantly greater (P = 0.02) in the high‐eosinophil (27.37%) than the low‐eosinophil (4.14%) group. Mucin expression and goblet cell numbers were similar in the two eosinophil groups; however, MUC‐2 expression was increased (P = 0.002) in the high‐eosinophil group compared with controls. The proportion of submucosa occupied by ASM was higher in both asthma groups (P = 0.021 and P = 0.046) compared with controls. In the ASM, eosinophil and T‐lymphocyte numbers were higher (P 
ISSN:0954-7894
1365-2222
DOI:10.1111/cea.12156