van Elden Leontine J R, Sachs Alfred P E, van Loon Anton M, Haarman Monique, van de Vijver David A, Kimman Tjeerd G, Zuithoff Peter, Schipper Pauline J, Verheij Theo J M, Nijhuis Monique
Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Clin Virol. 2008 Feb;41(2):116-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2007.10.028. Epub 2007 Dec 21.
Viral respiratory infections, particularly human rhinovirus (HRV) infections, are the most common cause of asthma exacerbation. HRV infections usually lead to more severe and longer duration of lower respiratory tract (LRT) symptoms in asthmatics than in otherwise healthy individuals. However, the exact mechanism by which viruses contribute to exacerbation of asthma is unknown.
The main objective of our study was to investigate the relationship of the enhanced severity of LRT symptoms to viral dynamics or cytokine responses in the upper respiratory tract (URT).
Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study in which asthmatics and healthy controls were followed during natural viral respiratory tract infections.
Our study confirmed that viral respiratory tract infections caused more severe problems of the LRT in asthma patients as compared to healthy controls. However, for all subjects, the severity of LRT symptoms were not related to viral load or prolonged viral shedding in the URT. In addition, we did not detect differences in proinflammatory cytokines in the URT between asthmatics and controls.
Persistence of the virus, as well as viral load in the URT, may not be associated with the induction and/or persistence of asthmatic symptoms.
病毒性呼吸道感染，尤其是人鼻病毒（HRV）感染，是哮喘加重的最常见原因。与健康个体相比，HRV感染通常会导致哮喘患者下呼吸道（LRT）症状更严重且持续时间更长。然而，病毒导致哮喘加重的确切机制尚不清楚。
我们研究的主要目的是调查下呼吸道症状严重程度增加与上呼吸道（URT）病毒动态或细胞因子反应之间的关系。
因此，我们进行了一项纵向研究，在自然病毒性呼吸道感染期间对哮喘患者和健康对照进行随访。
我们的研究证实，与健康对照相比，病毒性呼吸道感染在哮喘患者中导致更严重的下呼吸道问题。然而，对于所有受试者，下呼吸道症状的严重程度与上呼吸道中的病毒载量或病毒持续排出无关。此外，我们未检测到哮喘患者和对照在上呼吸道促炎细胞因子方面的差异。
病毒的持续存在以及上呼吸道中的病毒载量可能与哮喘症状的诱发和/或持续存在无关。
