Asthma is a heterogeneous disease and can be classified by level of control, disease severity and the inflammatory phenotype. However, these different domains overlap and classification of patients according to these characteristics has caused confusion in the literature. Concerning the inflammatory phenotype international consensus is present regarding the diagnostic power of induced sputum. This methodology is, however, difficult to implement in general practice. Local inflammation is associated with a complex combination of systemic pro- and anti-inflammatory signals that induce changes in responsive leukocytes. These changes can be used as read-out for type and degree of inflammatory disease. Hypothesis: This will facilitate the diagnosis of inflammatory phenotypes in asthma, as general application of induced sputum is not feasible.
Goals
1. To investigate whether analysis of antibodies directed against active Beta-1 and Beta-2-integrins (CD29/CD18) and FcγRII (CD32) of primed eosinophils allows the diagnosis of eosinophilic asthma as compared to analysis of sputum eosinophilia.
2. To evaluate the applicability of antibodies against active β1/β2-integrins and FcγRII in symptomatic asthma patients as a test to diagnose eosinophilic and neutrophilic asthma.
3. To determine specific protein profiles in serum of asthma patients by proteomics for the development of a diagnostic test.
4. To evaluate the effectiveness of this new test in comparison with FeNO.
