Functional Changes of Interleukin-4 and Interferon-gamma of Peripheral Blood and Nasal Mucosa after Immunotherapy in Patients with Perennial Allergic Rhinitis

Yeo, Seung Geun; Cho, Joong Saeng; Jin, Young Wan; Cha, Chang Il; Kim, Ki Ju; Park, Kyung You

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Immunologic changes of immunotherapy can include reduced allergenstimulated mononuclear cells prolifer-ation and lymphokine production and the generation of allergic-specfic suppressor T cells. The changes and the relationships of the mononuclear cells between the peripheral blood and the nasal mucosa are still unclear during immunotherapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional changes of the mononuclear cells in peripheral blood and the nasal mucosa following immunotherapy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We collected the mononuclear cells from the peripheral blood and the nasal mucosa in 25 patients who had received immunotherapy and 10 patients without any treatment. All of the patients were sensitive to house dust mites. And 5 healthy subjects were used as a control. The mononuclear cells were incubated with antigen or phytohemaglutinin (PHA) for 48 hours. And productions of Interleukin-4 and Interferon-gamma were measured in supernatants by ELISA. On the peripheral mononuclear cells stimulated by antigens, the production of Inter-leukin-4 was dominant in the non-treated allergic group and there were no differences of the productions in the group of immunotherapy and healthy control group. Similar findings of Interleukin-4 production were seen on mononuclear cells from the nasal mucosa. And there were no differences of Interferon-gamma production in the nontreated and control group. However the immunotherapy group showed more Interferon-gamma production than those 2 groups in mononuclear cells from both sites.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggests that immunotherapy can change the function of mononuclear cells from the peripheral blood as well as the nasal mucosa.