Introduction
Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airway in
children. The most typical symptom of asthma is recurrent wheezing.
However, wheezing is common in preschool children which is commonly
related to acute respiratory tract infection. The Modified Asthma
Predictive Index (mAPI) is a practical method commonly used in the
clinic; however, its sensitivity and specificity are limited. Therefore,
it is of great clinical value to explore biological indicators based on
the immunology of bronchial asthma to guide the diagnosis and treatment
of asthma more effectively.
Pathogenic memory type Th2 cells play an important role in allergic
airway inflammation.
CD4+ memory T
cells can aggravate allergic airway inflammation by inducing
eosinophilic aggregation, mucus hypersecretion(1) and
airway hyperresponsiveness (2). Conversely, inhibition
of memory Th2 cells can alleviate allergic airway inflammation and
improve the symptoms of asthma(3). These studies
suggest that memory Th2 cells reflect previous allergic inflammation and
can distinguish wheezing caused by non-allergic inflammation versus an
immunological mechanism.
In this study, a cohort of wheezing children was established. The
patient and family histories of allergic diseases were recorded in
detail. In addition, the proportion of circulating
CD4+CCR6+CRTh2+memory Th2 cells were measured, and the wheezing children were followed
up for 2 years to confirm whether they were diagnosed with asthma.
Statistical methods were used to determine the correlation between the
level of circulating
CD4+CCR6+CRTh2+memory Th2 cells and a diagnosis of asthma, thereby providing a
theoretical basis for the early diagnosis of asthma in children.