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Biomedical subjects

K Jörgensen

Publications and source records attributed to K Jörgensen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Blood eosinophil number and activity in relation to lung function in patients with asthma and with eosinophilia.

Blood eosinophil count, serum concentrations of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), eosinophil protein X (EPX), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and peak expiratory flow (PEF) rate were studied in 23 patients with severe labile asthma characterized by eosinophilia at the start and end of a treatment period of 5 weeks. The mean blood eosinophil count was 808 x 10(6)/L at the start of the treatment period. Serum ECP and EPX were significantly raised compared with that of the references, whereas the mean serum MPO level was normal. The mean PEF was significantly and negatively correlated to both blood eosinophil count and serum ECP and EPX, but the predominant correlation was that between blood eosinophil count and PEF. At the end of the treatment period, PEF had increased and the blood eosinophil count and serum ECP and EPX were reduced when these values were compared with the values at the start of the treatment period. There was a significant and negative correlation of mean PEF to serum ECP but not to the blood eosinophil count. In individual subjects, the decreases in the blood eosinophil counts and serum EPX were significantly correlated to the individual increases of mean PEF. In conclusion, the present investigation indicates that in patients with asthma and pronounced eosinophilia, the lung function of the patients was principally related to the number of circulating eosinophils, whereas, when their eosinophilia was reduced to moderate levels, the patient's lung function was closer related to the activity of the eosinophils.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Increased chemokinetic and chemotactic responses of eosinophils in asthmatic patients.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the migratory responses of eosinophil and neutrophil granulocytes from asthmatic patients compared with granulocytes from healthy individuals. Twenty-three patients with unstable and severe asthma and blood eosinophilia (greater than 400 x 10(6) cells/l) were selected for the study. Eosinophil and neutrophil chemotactic and chemokinetic responses were tested twice, at the beginning and end of a 5 week treatment period. Lung function was followed by daily measurements of PEF. The eosinophils of the asthmatics demonstrated increased chemokinetic responses to albumin, autologous serum, and normal human serum (NHS), and an increased chemotactic response to NHS at the beginning of the treatment period compared with eosinophils from the references. At the end of the period the eosinophil chemokinetic responses to albumin, autologous serum and NHS were still increased and so was the chemotactic response to zymosan-activated serum (ZAS). The neutrophil migratory responses were not increased compared with those of the references, except for the chemokinetic response to autologous serum, which was increased both at the beginning and end of the treatment period. Patients in whom the eosinophil migratory responses, to most of the agents used, decreased over the treatment period, demonstrated a significantly greater improvement of their lung function at the end of the period compared with patients in whom the eosinophil migratory responses increased. However, no direct relationship between eosinophil migratory responses and lung function of the patients was found. In conclusion, the present investigation demonstrated increased migratory responses of eosinophils from asthmatic patients. This enhanced responsiveness is proposed to be due to priming of the eosinophils in vivo, and might be one mechanism behind the selective recruitment of eosinophils to the lungs of asthmatics.

Adolescent↗