| PrefaceBronchial asthma is a kind of chronic bronchial inflammatory disease, with a domestic prevalence rate of 0. 5 ~ 3. 0% in children in 2002 and 5.0% in some region. This is increasing gradually in past years. Recently, with the help of genetics and immunology development , it is generally believed that asthma is a kind of chronic inflammatory process involving many cells, including mast cell, eosinophil, T lymphocyte, neutrophil, epithelial cell and cellular factors and components. Specific IgE increase is one of the characteristics of asthma, though many other cellular factors and inflammatory mediators may also play important roles in process.Among the inflammatory cellular factors in asthma, TNF - a, a kind of active pro inflammatory cellular factor, plays an important role in the process of asthma. TNF - a, produced in macrophage, T lymphocyte, mast cell , etc, is dose effective in tissue. Low level of TNF - a is beneficial to tissue repair and inflammatory response, while, chronic stimulation and massive release of TNF ?a may induce immuno - pathological damage to tissue. In the process of asthma , TNF - a may accelerate the adhesion of eosinophil and endothelium, causing degranulation; may induce cellular expression of NO synthesis in pulmonary inflammatory and non - inflammatory cells, producing NO. TNF - a may also increase the level of NGF in inflammatory cells, such as fibroblast, causing neu-rogenic inflammation. TNF - a induces the production of transcription factor NF - kB , activates gene promoter in related inflammatory cells, causing multicellu-lar interaction. TNF - a also induces IL - 1, II - 6, IL - 8 and GM - CSF, which may in turn cause interaction of multiple inflammatory cells and components.In the present study, we measured the serum TNF - a and IgE in asthma patient, of acute and remission phase, to evaluate the correlation between these two parameters and to discuss their roles in asthma, tying to find new ways to control the disorder.Materials and MethodSerum samples for TNF - a and TIgE measurement were obtained from 64 patients of asthma ( 43 cases were in acute phase and 21 cases were in remission) and 21 normal control. Test kit of ELISA was purchased from Beijing Jing-mei Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Vmax 229 Series and BIO - RAD model 550 were imported from USA.Fasting blood sample about 3 ?5 ml was taken, separated and stored under 70C for final analysis . ELJSA technique was used for serum IgE and TNF - a measurement. The two groups were analyzed for statistic significant difference, and correlation ratio was calculated between the two parameters.Results1. Serum TNF - a level ( pg/ml ) : TNF - a in asthma acute group (2.43 +1. 13) and remission group ( 0.71 +0.24) was significantly higher than thecontrol group(0.71+0.24) (P < 0.05) , and there was abvious difference between acute group and remission group ( P < 0.01 ).2. Serum TIgE level ( IU/ml ) : TIgE in asthma acute group (647. 1 + 551.8) and remission group ( 240 +129.6 ) were sinificantly higher than that of the control group (76.7 +28.0 )( P < 0.01 ), but there wasn't abvious difference between asthma acute group and the control group ( P > 0. 05 ) .3. TNF-a and IgE in asthma patients, both acute and remission group, were positively correlated ( r = 0. 85, P < 0.01 ).DiscussionThe real nature of asthma is multiple cell and cellular components mediated chronic airway inflammation. Among these factors, TNF - a, which is a kind of active proinflammatory cellular factor, plays an important role in the process of asthma. In asthma, TNF - a released from macrophage, mast cell and T - lymphocyte, induces cascade chain reaction of inflammatory mediators, causing bronchial spasm, increased vascular permeability, formation of microemboli, airway mucosal edema, production of smooth muscle cell and recruitment of eo-sinophil in airway. All these action induces and exaggerates asthma, finally causing airway remodeling which may be the key reason for irreversible airway obstructi...
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