Assessment of treatment by measuring the level of eosinophylic cation protein (ECP) in the serum of

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways with recurrent exacerbations caused by a number of factors. Airway inflammation is one of the hallmarks of asthma. Characteristic features of the airway inflammation are increased numbers of activated eosinophyls, mast cells, macrophages, and T lymphocytes in the airway mucosa and lumen. A serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) level reflects ongoing eosinophilic airway inflammation, and is used as a marker of asthma activity. By measuring the levels of the ECP during inflammation, we are able to detect an immune reaction in the respiratory tract as well as the dynamics of the inflammation during treatment with anti-inflammation drugs. The aim of this research was to discover an inflammation reaction in an atopic patient and the success of the anti-inflammation treatment conducted by measuring the level of ECP in the serum of patients with asthma and with the spirometrical parameter FEV1. In addition, we tried to discover a more effective anti-inflammation drug by measuring these two parameters. We analyzed two groups of randomly chosen patients suffering from asthma, whose course of illness required the introduction of anti-inflammatory therapy. Each group consisted of 10 subjects and the first was treated through inhalation of disodium chromoglycate, the second by inhalation of corticosteroid flunisolid. In both groups, ECP decreased during the 2 months of treatment (p = 0.033 for the flunisolid group; p = 0.000 for the disodium chromoglycate group) and FEV1 vas significantly elevated (p = 0.002 for the flunisolid group; p = 0.020 for the disodium chromoglycate group). In conclusion, the measurement of serum ECP and FEV1 may be useful in the assessment of airway inflammation in asthmatic children and can be used as a marker of response to treatment. Anti-inflammation drugs significantly reduce the level of ECP and raise FEV1 values. Our study demonstrated that both therapies significantly improved symptom scores of wheezing and coughing.