Serum ECP, RANTES and Eotaxin Levels in Infants with Bronchiolitis

Purpose:Viral respiratory infection, especially respiratory syncytial(RS) virus, can predispose sufferers to the development of asthma by mechanisms that are presently undetermined. The role of inflammatory mediators in pathogenesis of asthma and RS virus disease is not well-understood. We investigated the performance of serum eosinophil cationic protein(ECP), regulated on activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted(RANTES) and eotaxin levels on the airway inflammation in a population of patients with RS virus and non-RS virus bronchiolitis, compared with control subjects. Methods:Twenty-eight patients with RS virus positive bronchiolits, 11 patients with RS virus negative bronchiolitis and seven control subjects were enrolled in the study. Serum ECP, RANTES and eotaxin levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay. We analyzed the correlation among serum ECP, RANTES, eotaxin, immunoglobulin E and blood eosinophil count in the RS virus positive bronchiolitis group and the RS virus negative bronchiolitis group, respectively. Results:Both serum ECP and RANTES in the brochiolitis group were not higher than in the control. Serum eotaxin concentration in bronchiolitis group was significantly higher than in control(P= 0.030), but there was no significant difference between RS virus positive and negative groups. There were significant correlations between the peripheral blood eosinophil count and serum ECP, and between the levels of serum ECP and RANTES in the RS virus positive bronchiolitis group(P=0.038, 0.012 respectively). Conclusion:Serum eotaxin may have a systemic effect in pathophysiology of bronchiolitis but ECP and RANTES may not. However, they may have some indirect effects inferred from the correlations among them. (Korean J Pediatr 2004;47:170-176)