Bellia V, Bonanno A, Cibella F, Cuttitta G, Mirabella A, Profita M, Vignola A M, Bonsignore G
Istituto di Medicina Generale e Pneumologia-Universit¿a, Palermo, Italy.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1996 Mar;97(3):735-41. doi: 10.1016/s0091-6749(96)80149-7.
Urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) is a marker of the body's production of cysteinyl LTs, important mediators of airway inflammation. The role of the latter in nocturnal asthma is a topic of increasing interest.
This investigation was aimed at determining whether nighttime attacks are associated with increased release of LTs, expressed by urinary LTE4, and the relationship between the two phenomena.
Three groups were studied: group A, seven control subjects; group B, nine asthmatic patients without nocturnal attacks; and group C, nine asthmatic patients with a comparable daytime FEV1 but who were experiencing nocturnal exacerbations (morning dips in peak expiratory flow greater than 20%). Urine was collected over 24 hours in three samples (9:00 AM to 3:00 PM; 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM; and 9:00 PM to 9:00 AM). LTE4 was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay and expressed as nanograms per millimole of creatinine.
No significant differences between urinary LTE4 were noticed within groups A and B. Conversely, in group C urinary LTE4 at night (geometric mean with 95% confidence interval; 35.16 with 28.77-42.85) was significantly higher than that of the other samples (respectively 23.12 with 17.78-30.06, p less than 0.05; and 25.18 with 21.03-30.13, p less than 0.02); it was also significantly higher than in all the samples of other groups. A significant (p less than 0.02) linear correlation was observed between morning dip in peak expiratory flow and the log urinary LTE4 in the nocturnal sample.
These results indicate the role of LTs in nocturnal asthma and suggest that urinary LTE4 may be a useful marker of this condition.
尿白三烯E4（LTE4）是机体产生半胱氨酰白三烯的标志物，半胱氨酰白三烯是气道炎症的重要介质。后者在夜间哮喘中的作用是一个越来越受关注的话题。
本研究旨在确定夜间发作是否与尿LTE4所表达的白三烯释放增加有关，以及这两种现象之间的关系。
研究了三组：A组，7名对照受试者；B组，9名无夜间发作的哮喘患者；C组，9名白天FEV1相当但有夜间加重（呼气峰值流量早晨下降大于20%）的哮喘患者。在24小时内分三个样本收集尿液（上午9:00至下午3:00；下午3:00至晚上9:00；晚上9:00至上午9:00）。通过高效液相色谱和放射免疫分析法测量LTE4，并以每毫摩尔肌酐的纳克数表示。
A组和B组尿LTE4之间未发现显著差异。相反，C组夜间尿LTE4（几何平均值及95%置信区间；35.16，28.77 - 42.85）显著高于其他样本（分别为23.12，17.78 - 30.06，p小于0.05；以及25.18，21.03 - 30.13，p小于0.02）；也显著高于其他组的所有样本。呼气峰值流量早晨下降与夜间样本中尿LTE4对数之间观察到显著（p小于0.02）的线性相关性。
这些结果表明白三烯在夜间哮喘中的作用，并提示尿LTE4可能是这种情况的有用标志物。
