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Predominant type-2 response in infants with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection demonstrated by cytokine flow cytometry

Acute RSV infection in infancy may produce some asthma-like symptoms and may be followed by a recurrent wheeze later in life. It has been proposed that RSV infection stimulates type-2 cytokine responses, resembles those found in atopy and asthma. Peripheral blood cells were obtained from RSV?infected infants (n=30) and healthy controls (n=10). After in vitro restimulation of the cells, intracellular IL-4 and interferon-gamma (IFN-g) were measured by flow cytometry. The cells from RSV?infected infants produced more IL-4 and less IFN-g than those from healthy controls. IL-4 production was more frequent in CD8 than in CD4 cells, and the bias towards IL-4 production was greatest in infants with mild infections, whereas IFN-g production increased with disease severity. Our conclusions are that RSV infection is associated with IL-4 production in peripheral T cells, and that peripheral blood in infants with severe disease may be depleted of cytokine-producing cells.

respiratory syncytial virus; intracellular cytokines; flow cytometry; IL-4; interferon-gamma; lymphocytes

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