Serum interleukin 5 concentrations in atopic and non-atopic patients with glucocorticoid-dependent chronic severe asthma.

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BACKGROUND--Interleukin (IL)-5 is thought to play a part in asthmatic bronchial mucosal inflammation and is a potential therapeutic target. Detectable serum IL-5 concentrations have been found previously in a proportion of patients with acute severe asthma, but not in the same patients following oral glucocorticoid therapy or in normal controls. A study was undertaken to investigate whether or not IL-5 is detectable in the serum of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent chronic severe asthma. METHODS--Serum concentrations of IL-5 were measured in 29 patients with stable oral glucocorticoid-dependent chronic severe asthma (mean PEFR 59.7% predicted) and seven normal controls using a specific enzyme-linked immunoassay calibrated with recombinant human IL-5 standards (lower limit of sensitivity 40 pg/ml). RESULTS--Interleukin 5 was detectable in the serum of 15 of the 29 patients at a median concentration of 150 pg/ml (range 40-690), but was undetectable in the serum of all the control subjects. The patients with detectable serum IL-5 concentrations did not differ from those with undetectable concentrations in terms of atopic status, disease severity (percentage predicted PEFR or FEV1), prednisolone dosage, serum IgE concentrations, or peripheral eosinophil count. CONCLUSIONS--Interleukin 5 is detectable in the serum of a proportion of both atopic and non-atopic patients with chronic severe asthma, and concentrations in these patients were higher than in normal controls. These observations are compatible with the hypothesis that IL-5 release occurs in these patients during a period of stable asthma despite systemic glucocorticoid therapy.

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