Increased chemotactic responses of neutrophils in intrinsic and mixed asthmatic patients.

Neutrophils are thought to contribute actively in the pathogenesis of asthma since they infiltrate into the lung tissue. The aim of this study is to compare the chemotactic responses of neutrophil granulocytes from 10 intrinsic, 13 extrinsic and 10 mixed type asthmatic patients with each other and chemotactic response of neutrophil granulocytes from 26 healthy individuals. All patients were free of infection and not receiving systemic corticosteroids. Significant differences were not found in random migration between all of the groups. However, chemotactic activity with zymosan activated serum was significantly elevated in intrinsic and mixed asthmatic patients (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the present investigation demonstrated increased chemotactic responses of neutrophils from asthmatic patients except extrinsic type.