|
|
 |
|
|
NERVE GROWTH FACTOR (NGF) LEVELS IN PIGEON
FANCIER’S HYPERSENSITIVITY
G. Boyd, MD
1, C.P. McSharry, PhD, I.
Fraser, BSc, R. Chaudhuri, MD, C. Lynch, MB ChB, S.J.
Bourke, MD, K. Anderson, MD and N.C. Thomson, MD.
1 Departments of Immunology
and Respiratory Medicine, Division of Immunology,
Infection and Inflammation, University of Glasgow,
Glasgow, Scotland.
NGF is a neurotrophic cytokine with immuno-modulatory activity. In HP, neurogenic inflammation and the associated symptoms of cough and myalgia are caused by immune hypersensitivity to inhaled antigen. A potential role for NGF in a model of HP amongst pigeon fanciers was investigated.
NGF concentrations in serum and blood lymphocyte culture supernatants were quantified and compared with serum IgG antibody against avian antigens, the systemic (CRP) and pulmonary (KL-6) markers of inflammation and with symptoms of HP in 55 pigeon fanciers (26 with HP) together with 15 healthy subjects with no avian exposure.
The pigeon fanciers had higher than normal
IgG antibody to avian antigens and elevated CRP and KL-6 levels
(p<0.004 each). These were unrelated to HP symptom category.
Instead, the CRP and KL-6 correlated with each other and with
the antibody titres (p<0.004 each). Among the pigeon fanciers,
the NGF levels in the serum were normal. However, the NGF
production by mitogen-activated lymphocytes was significantly
higher than normal, correlated with IgG antibody titre (p=0.01)
and with the serum CRP concentration (p=0.047).
In HP that
occurs in pigeon fanciers, a model system of sensitivity to
defined inhaled antigen in humans, the lymphocyte synthesis
of NGF correlated with the IgG antibody response to inhaled
antigens and with the indices of lung and systemic inflammation.
These mediators did not relate to symptom history, suggesting
that the neurogenic and immune systems may interact in a coordinated
way in sub-clinical inflammatory processes.
Am J Resp Crit Care Med. 2005; 2: A900
|
|
