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- Title
Bronchoalveolar lavage cell pattern from healthy human lung.
- Authors
Heron, M.; Grutters, J. C.; ten Dam-Molenkamp, K. M.; Hijdra, D.; van Heugten-Roeling, A.; Claessen, A. M. E.; Ruven, H. J. T.; van den Bosch, J. M. M.; van Velzen-Blad, H.
- Abstract
Summary Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is widely accepted as a key diagnostic procedure in interstitial lung diseases (ILD). We performed a study to obtain reference intervals of differential cell patterns in BAL fluid with special attention to the origin of lavage fluid, e.g. bronchial/alveolar, to atopy and smoking status and to age of the healthy people. We performed bronchoalveolar lavage in 55 healthy subjects with known atopy status (age: 18-64 years, non-smokers/smokers: 34/21) and determined differential cell counts and lymphocyte subsets in BAL fluid and blood. Moreover, in a subgroup of non-smoking healthy individuals we measured the expression of the regulatory T cell marker forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3) on blood and BAL fluid lymphocytes in addition to a comprehensive set of activation markers. Differential cell counts from the alveolar lavage fraction differed significantly from calculated pooled fractions ( n = 11). In contrast, marginal differences were found between atopic and non-atopic subjects. Interestingly, the BAL fluid CD4+/CD8+ ratio correlated strongly with age ( r2 = 0·50, P < 0·0001). We consider the bronchial and alveolar fraction to be lavage fluid from fundamentally different compartments and recommend analysis of the alveolar fraction in diagnostic work-up of ILD. In addition, our data suggest that age corrected BAL fluid CD4+/CD8+ ratios should be used in the clinical evaluation of patients with interstitial lung diseases.
- Subjects
BRONCHOALVEOLAR lavage; CELL aggregation; LUNG disease diagnosis; SMOKING; LYMPHOCYTES; BIOMARKERS; T cells
- Publication
Clinical & Experimental Immunology, 2012, Vol 167, Issue 3, p523
- ISSN
0009-9104
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2249.2011.04529.x