Table 1.
Study cohort characteristics
| Variable | Allergic asthmatics (AA) (n = 22) |
Allergic non-asthmatics (ANA) (n = 12) |
Non-allergic non-asthmatics (HC) (n = 11) |
p value# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (yrs) | 39 (27–45) | 33 (25–47) | 28 (26–48) | NS |
| ACQ score (baseline)* | 0.7 (0.3–1.0) | – | – | – |
| % Male | 50% | 67% | 36% | NS€ |
| % White | 68% | 50% | 72% | NS€ |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 25 (23–30) | 27 (21–32) | 27 (23–28) | NS |
| FEV1% predicted pre-Alb¥ | 86 (69–97) | 98 (91–107) | 104 (97–112) | 0.001 |
| FEV1% predicted post-Alb¥ | 99 (83–106) | 104 (96–107) | 107 (101–121) | 0.035 |
| Change in FEV% | 9.5 (6.0–15.0) | 3.0 (1.0–6.5) | 4.0 (1.0–5.0) | < 0.0001 |
| PC20 (methacholine) | 1.1 (0.3–2.8) | > 32$ | > 32$ | < 0.0001 |
| Serum IgE (EU/mL) | 169.5 (68.8–313.0) | 88.5 (43.5–175.0) | 14.0 (5.0–37.0) | < 0.0001 |
| No. of positive sIgE¢ | 6 (3–9) | 4 (2–6) | – | NS& |
| Allergic rhinitis (%) | 55% | 25% | 0% | 0.006 € |
| Blood neutrophils (%) | 53.1 (48.0–61.2) | 52.8 (51.0–61.8) | 58.4 (53.3–63.0) | NS |
| Blood eosinophils (%) | 3.7 (1.9–5.3) | 2.0 (1.4–5.0) | 1.8 (1.2–3.0) | 0.076 |
| Sputum neutrophils (%) | 50.8 (30.1–63.6) | 34.6 (15.0–44.4) | 41.1 (37.7–65.5) | NS |
| Sputum eosinophils (%) | 0.5 (0.0–2.6) | 0.1 (0.0–0.5) | 0.0 (0.0–0.4) | 0.041 |
| BAL GM-CSF (pg/mL) | 349 (194–571) | 476 (233–840) | 154 (125–258) | 0.010 |
| BAL IL-6 (pg/mL) | 102 (49–185) | 160 (67–164) | 70 (23–110) | NS |
| BAL IL-7 (pg/mL) | 0.3 (0.3–37.6) | 0.3 (0.3–20.5) | 0.3 (0.3–0.3) | NS |
| BAL IL-8 (pg/mL) | 1407 (843–3864) | 1311 (870–2851) | 953 (503–1180) | NS |
| BAL CXCL11 (pg/mL) | 371 (137–628) | 801 (421–937) | 339 (171–396) | 0.036 |
| BAL MIP-1α (pg/mL) | 82 (49–174) | 114 (74–156) | 69 (38–106) | NS |
| BAL MIP-1β (pg/mL) | 317 (200–616) | 275 (240–394) | 128 (113–350) | 0.095 |
| BAL MIP-3α (pg/mL) | 390 (162–1668) | 411 (242–715) | 264 (126–918) | NS |
| BAL TNF (pg/mL) | 70 (17–99) | 65 (42–106) | 29 (22–76) | NS |
| BAL IL-1β (pg/mL) | 0.04 (0.04–4.2) | 0.04 (0.04–7.9) | 0.04 (0.04–0.04) | NS |
| BAL IL-21 (pg/mL) | 0.8 (0.04–17.8) | 8.3 (0.04–37.1) | 0.04 (0.04–3.1) | NS |
All values are medians (IQR).*ACQ—Asthma Control Questionnaire. ¥Alb—Albuterol. $Methacholine challenge was stopped at 32 mg/dL and PC20 for these subjects was censored. ¢Number of positive specific IgE (sIgE > 0.35 kU/l) from a total of 12 aeroallergens tested by ImmunoCap assay. Statistical significance was determined using #Kruskal-Wallis, &Mann-Whitney, or €Chi-square test with p values > 0.1 assigned NS; p values <0.05 are highlighted in bold and those trending towards significance <0.1 are italicized