Predominant TH1 cytokine pattern in peripheral blood from subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Abstract

Previous studies have provided evidence for an inflammatory process in the large airways of subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), consisting predominantly of activated T cells. No data are available on the TH1 /TH2 T-cell cytokine pattern in this disease. We sought to characterize the TH1 /TH2 T-cell cytokine pattern in subjects with COPD. We examined the IFN-gamma and IL-4 expression in peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from 20 patients with COPD and 25 control subjects by using a flow cytometric method of intracellular cytokine detection. We also examined the expression of 2 surface activation markers (CD25 and HLA-DR) on peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. There was an increased percentage of IFN-gamma-producing cells (30.3% [range, 12.9% to 60.4%] vs 19.1% [range, 4% to 31.2%], P =.003) and a decreased percentage of IL-4-producing cells (4.55% [range, 0.6% to 11.3%] vs 9.5% [2.1% to 21.3%], P =.0008) among peripheral blood CD4+ T cells from the patients with COPD compared with control subjects. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the percentage of peripheral blood CD8+ T cells producing IFN-gamma or IL-4 or in the percentage of peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cells expressing CD25 and HLA-DR. These findings provide evidence for a TH1 -like immune response of peripheral blood CD4+ T cells in subjects with COPD.