Serum levels of sCD23 and sCD25 in children with asthma and in healthy controls.

To investigate whether markers of lymphocyte activation are useful markers of disease activity in childhood asthma, we studied serum levels of soluble CD25 (receptor for IL-2) and soluble CD23 (low-affinity receptor for IgE) in 178 children (aged 2-18 years) suffering from mild to moderate asthma (mean asthma severity score: 2, range: 1-4), and in 175 healthy age-matched controls. Levels of sCD23 and sCD25 were inversely related to age. sCD23 was lower in patients with asthma (means per age group: 4.