Participation of Th17 and Treg Cells in Pediatric Bronchial Asthma

Abstract

The immune response plays an important role in the development of allergic diseases. It is established that a complex network of various immunocytes such as Th2, non-Th2 (Th17), and regulatory T (Treg) participate in allergic reactions. In this study, we examined the frequencies of Th17 cells (IL-17-positive cells) and Treg cells (FOXP3-positive cells) in the peripheral blood and elucidated their participation in pediatric allergic diseases such as bronchial asthma and food allergies. Our study included 35 subjects, 27 with allergic diseases (19 with asthma and 8 with food allergies) and 8 were controls (without any allergic diseases); their age ranged from 1 to 13 years. The frequency of Th17 cells (IL-17-positive cells) among the CD4 + T cells in the peripheral blood was 2.33 ± 1.29% in patients with bronchial asthma, 1.53 ± 1.34% in those with food allergies, and 1.50 ± 0.809% in controls. These results indicated that only the patients with bronchial asthma had a trend towards a higher frequency of Th17 cells (p = 0.1558). The ratio of Th17 cells to Treg cells did not show any statistical correlation among the patients with bronchial asthma. However, when we excluded the patients with a severe type of asthma, we could obtain an inverse trend between the ratio of Th17 cells to Treg cells (p = 0.1655). This study suggested that Th17 cells and Treg cells participate in pediatric allergic reactions such as bronchial asthma.

Immune Mechanisms of Childhood Asthma

“…Our preliminary data have suggested that pediatric asthma patients exhibited a higher frequency of Th17 cells within the peripheral CD4 + T cell population (Yamamoto et al, 2010). Th17 cells appeared during an early stage at the onset of child asthma and the increased frequency of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood could reflect the presence of their symptoms of asthma, but it could not be connected with the severity of asthma.…”

“…The role of Th17 cells may thus be similar between childhood and adult asthma. Furthermore, a negative correlation between the frequency of Th17 cells and Treg cells was shown in a moderate type of child asthma and in autoimmunity (Bettelli et al, 2006;Yamamoto et al, 2010). Neutrophilic inflammation therefore seems to be ascribed to the increased activation of Th17 cells and the decline in the number and activity of Treg cells.…”

“…Coincident with the reduced regulatory functions of Treg cells, the ratio of Th17 cells also increased in childhood asthma patient (Yamamoto et al, 2010). Furthermore, single nucleotide polymorphisms of FOXP3 have been associated with childhood allergy (Bottema et al, 2009).…”

Cortex Mori Radicis extract exerts antiasthmatic effects via enhancement of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells and inhibition of Th2 cytokines in a mouse asthma model

“…4C). However, although Th17 (IL-17-positive cells) are involved in allergic reaction (Yamamoto et al, 2010), CMR did not show any significant effect on CD4 + Th17 + cell population compared with untreated control (data not shown).…”

The Effect of House Dust Mite Immunotherapy, Probiotic and Nigella sativa in The Number of Th17 Cell and Asthma Control Test Score

“…In addition the results of a positive skin prict test not only on the HDM can also affect the number of Th17 cells. Yamamoto et al (2010) stated that the number of Th17 cells was higher in patients with asthma who are allergic to HDM and food if compared with HDM alone [38]. In group 1, the 2 samples that had increased the number of Th17 cells suffered from HDM and food allergies.…”