抄録
Epidemiologic investigations and experimental studies on the nose suggest that diesel exhaust particles (DEP) may be implicated in the increasing severity and prevalence of allergic diseases. However, there is no experimental evidence for the relation of DEP to allergic asthma. The present study investigated the effects of DEP inoculated intratracheally on antigen induced airway inflammation, hyperresponsiveness, local expression of cytokine proteins and antigen-specific immunoglobulin production in mice. DEP aggravated ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation characterized by infiltration of eosinophils and lymphocytes, airway hyperresponsiveness to acetylcholine, and an increase in goblet cells in bronchial epithelium. DEP with antigen markedly increased interleukin (IL) -5 protein levels in lung tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage supernatants compared to either antigen or DEP alone. The combination of DEP and antigen induced significant increases in local expression of IL-4, granulocyte macrophagecolony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and IL-2. In addition, DEP exhibited adjuvant activity for the antigen-specific production of IgG1. These results provide experimental evidence that DEP can enhance the manifestations of allergic asthma. The enhancement may be mediated mainly by the increased local expression of IL-5, and also by the modulated expression of IL-4, GM-CSF and IL-2.
