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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Mar 27.
Published in final edited form as: Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2015 Apr 27;11(7):793–803. doi: 10.1586/1744666X.2015.1040394

Table 2.

Effect of obesity and asthma on cellular immune function.

Effect of obesity Findings in obese asthma
Lymphocyte function ↑ Th1 and ↑Th17 ↑ CD4+ Th1 compared with Th2 cells
↑ cytokine production from CD4+ T cells after weight loss
↓ cytokine production from mediastinal lymph node cells with high fat diet
Eosinophil function Increased chemotaxis and adhesion Most studies show decreased airway eosinophilia with obesity, this may be related to abnormal trafficking from tissue
Neutrophil function Increased circulating neutrophils in obesity Increased sputum and circulating neutrophils in some obese asthmatics
Weight loss reduces sputum neutrophilia in women
Macrophage function Promotes development of M1 macrophages Increased sputum macrophages Impaired efferocytosis
Impaired response to glucocorticoids
Altered response to lipopolysaccharide
Increased macrophage activation in obese children