Phagocytosis of fossil fuel particulates by macrophages in children with asthma

Abstract Background Airway macrophages clear inhaled soot (black carbon) from traffic fumes. Macrophages from children with asthma have impaired phagocytosis of bacteria, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is associated with impaired phagocytosis by macrophages. We sought to assess whether macrophage phago...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2014-02, Vol.383, p.S29-S29
Main Authors: Brugha, Rossa, Dr, Mushtaq, Naseem, PhD, Dundas, Isobel, PhD, Mudway, Ian, PhD, Sanak, Marek, PhD, Grigg, Jonathan, Prof
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Air quality
Asthma
Black carbon
Carbon
Fossil fuels
Fumes
Internal Medicine
Liquid chromatography
Mass spectrometry
Metabolites
Particulate matter
Pollution control
Research ethics
Soot
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Summary:Abstract Background Airway macrophages clear inhaled soot (black carbon) from traffic fumes. Macrophages from children with asthma have impaired phagocytosis of bacteria, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is associated with impaired phagocytosis by macrophages. We sought to assess whether macrophage phagocytosis of soot was impaired, and to measure prostanoid metabolites, in children with asthma. Methods In this cross-sectional study, airway macrophages were obtained from 72 children aged 7–14 years by sputum induction with nebulised 4·5% saline. Children were classified as: healthy controls (n=39); mild asthma, defined as British Thoracic Society (BTS) step 1–2 (n=13); or moderate-to-severe asthma (BTS step 3–5) (n=20), and recruited from a UK paediatric outpatient clinic. Healthy controls were recruited as part of the London Low Emission Zone study. Macrophage black carbon was assessed with image analysis by an assessor masked to asthma severity. Exposure to air pollution was calculated by means of the London Air Quality Toolkit. Urinary PGE2 metabolites were measured with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The effect of PGE2 on phagocytosis of black carbon by rat airway macrophages was assessed with an in-vitro phagocytosis assay using urban particulate matter collected from air filters placed at city centre sites in Leicester, UK. Written informed consent was obtained from children and parents (Research Ethics Committee reference 11-LO-1732 and 08/H0704/139). Findings Children with moderate-to-severe asthma had lower airway macrophage black carbon than did controls (median 0·19 mm2 [IQR 0·11–0·26] vs 0·35 [0·16–0·49], p
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60292-0