Cytokine responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to allergen do not identify asthma or asthma phenotypes

BACKGROUND: Asthmatic patients are often differentiated based on their atopic status (atopic or nonatopic) and type of bronchitis (eosinophilic, neutrophilic, both, or neither). There is evidence supporting a central role for the T cell in asthma, but the role of allergen-induced T cell cytokines in driving disease in different asthma phenotypes remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypothesis that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from asthma patients with different phenotypes would react characteristically to a panel of common aeroallergens. METHODS: We incubated PBMCs from 41 asthma patients and 8 healthy controls with allergen and assessed PBMC proliferation by (3) H-thymidine incorporation and the production of the cytokines IL-5, IL-17A, IL-23, IL-10, and IFN-γ by ELISA. RESULTS: No differences in PBMC proliferation or cytokine production were found in patients with asthma, compared with healthy controls, or between patients with different asthma phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Peripheral blood mononuclear cell cytokine responses to allergen are not able to assist in the discrimination between disease state, atopic status, or type of bronchitis in asthma.