J Korean Med Sci.  2003 Aug;18(4):489-493. 10.3346/jkms.2003.18.4.489.

Nitric Oxide Metabolites, Eosinophils and Eosinophilic Cationic Protein in Patients with Asthma: Sputum versus Blood

• Jang AS
• Yeum CH
• Choi IS

• KMID: 648898
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2003.18.4.489

Abstract

The monitoring of airway inflammation has assessed in bronchial asthma directly by sputum examination, and indirectly by measurements in peripheral blood. To investigate the diagnostic value of these two methods, we compared nitric oxide (NO) metabolites, eosinophils, and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in sputum and blood in patients with asthma and control subjects. Sputum and serum were obtained from fifteen patients with asthma, and then were examined before anti-asthma treatment, including steroid preparations. ECP was measured by fluoroimmunoassay. NO metabolites were assayed by using modified Griess reaction. Asthmatic patients, compared with control subjects, had significantly higher level of NO metabolites, higher proportion of eosinophils, and higher levels of ECP in sputum. Asthmatic patients, compared with control subjects, however, had significantly higher number of eosinophils, and were at higher levels of ECP in blood. FEV1, FEV1 /FVC was negatively correlated with sputum eosinophils. The area under receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve showed that eosinophils in sputum are significantly accurate markers than NO metabolites in sputum and blood. These findings suggest that the proportion of eosinophils in sputum have more accurate diagnostic marker of asthmatic airway inflammation than NO metabolites in sputum in differentiating asthmatic patients from control subjects.

Keyword

Sputum; Blood Cell Count; Asthma; Nitric Oxide; Eosinophils

MeSH Terms

Adult
Area Under Curve
Asthma/*blood/*metabolism
Blood Proteins/*metabolism
Comparative Study
Eosinophils/*metabolism
Female
Fluoroimmunoassay
Human
Inflammation
Male
Nitrates/metabolism
Nitric Oxide/blood/*metabolism
Nitrites/metabolism
ROC Curve
Ribonucleases/blood/*metabolism
Sputum/*metabolism