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The Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society 2:162-165 (2005)
© 2005 The American Thoracic Society

Asthma Death, CD8+ T Cells, and Viruses

Siobhán M. O'Sullivan

Department of Immunology, Royal Free and University College Hospital Medical School, London, United Kingdom

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Siobhán O' Sullivan, Ph.D., Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson St, Dublin 2 Ireland. E-mail: sioosu{at}indigo.ie

Despite advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma and the availability of effective treatment, the World Health Organization estimates that asthma accounts for 1 in every 250 deaths worldwide. Viruses are associated with half of all asthma exacerbations. The immune response to viral infection may enhance preexisting airway inflammation via the release of chemokines and cytokines and local recruitment of inflammatory cells. Murine models have provided evidence for a deleterious role for CD8+ T cells in the context of respiratory viral infection. Passive transfer of respiratory syncytial virus–specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to infected mice results in virus clearance, which is associated with acute and sometimes fatal pulmonary disease. Compared with control subjects, CD8+ cells appear to be preferentially sequestered in the airways of individuals with asthma during acute exacerbations. In addition, an expanded CD8+ T cell population, dominated by activated cytotoxic CD8+ lymphocytes, has been documented in biopsies from patients dying as a result of acute asthma in association with a viral infection. Undoubtedly, CD8+ CTLs are a crucial in cell-mediated immunity in response to respiratory viruses. However, it would appear that an aberrant CD8+ T cell response in the context of a viral infection may place individuals with asthma at risk for fatal asthma.

Key Words: cytotoxic T lymphocytes • fatal asthma • virus




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