Background Assessment of airway inflammation in asthma is becoming increasingly important, as the inflammatory phenotype underpins the treatment response. Objective This study aimed to evaluate mannitol as a tool for assessing airway responsiveness and airway inflammation in asthma, compared with hypertonic saline. Methods Fifty-five subjects with stable asthma completed a hypertonic (4.5%) saline challenge and a mannitol challenge at two separate visits, performed 48-72 h apart, in random order. Results Induced sputum was obtained from 49 (89%) subjects during the saline challenge and 42 (76%) subjects during the mannitol challenge (P>0.05). There was a significant correlation between the greatest percentage fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) (r=0.6, P<0.0001), the dose-response slope (r=0.73), cumulative dose (r=0.55) and PD15 (r=0.46) for mannitol and hypertonic saline. The greatest percentage fall in FEV1 to mannitol was less in non-eosinophilic asthma. There was a lower total cell count in mannitol vs. hypertonic-saline-induced sputum. However, sputum eosinophils and neutrophils were not significantly different. Using mannitol, a higher proportion of subjects were classified as having eosinophilic asthma. There were no differences in IL-8, neutrophil elastase or matrix-metalloproteinase 9 concentrations in sputum samples induced with mannitol or hypertonic saline. Conclusion We conclude that mannitol can be used to induce good-quality sputum, useful for analysis of inflammatory mediators and for predicting the inflammatory phenotype in asthma. Cite this as: L. G. Wood, H. Powell and P. G. Gibson, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2010 (40) 232-241. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Wood, L. G., Powell, H., & Gibson, P. G. (2010). Mannitol challenge for assessment of airway responsiveness, airway inflammation and inflammatory phenotype in asthma. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 40(2), 232–241. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2009.03371.x
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