Leukotriene EM4 plasma levels in adult asthmatic patients with variable disease severity

Chavis C, van Vyve T, Chanez P, Farce M, Bousquet J, Michel FB, Godard P. Leukotriene E4 plasma levels in adult asthmatic patients with variable disease severity.
Cysteinyl leukotrienes 'C-LTs' are local inflammatory mediators involved in bronchial asthma. Seventeen asthmatic patients 'FEV₁ ranging from 41 to 99.8% of predicted values' and 11 healthy subjects were studied. The clinical severity of asthma was assessed by the Aas score. Plasma C-LTs were measured by enzyme immunoassay 'EIA' after sample purification by solid-phase extraction 'SPE', to investigate whether differences may exist between asthmatic and control subjects and whether leukotriene E₄'LTE₄' levels were related to the severity of disease. LT measurements showed that 87.6±1.2% was recovered as LTE₄ and 9.4±1.3% as LTC4. In asthmatic subjects, LTE₄ plasma levels were found to be significantly higher than those in the control group '1.073±0.133 and 0.53±0.19 ng/ml of plasma, respectively; P < 0.002'. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between LTE₄ plasma levels and the Aas clinical score ' P < 0.005'. These data suggest that plasma LTE₄ levels might be used to assess the severity of asthma.