• Paul T King, Steven Lim, Adrian Pick, James Ngui, Zdenka Prodanovic, William Downey, Cliff Choong, Anthony Kelman, Elizabeth Baranyai, Michelle Francis, Randall Moshinsky, Philip G Bardin, Peter W Holmes, and Stephen R Holdsworth.
• Monash University Department of Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia. paul.king@monash.edu
• J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2013 May 1; 131 (5): 1314-21.e14.

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by pulmonary inflammation that persists after the cessation of smoking. T cells have a major role in driving inflammation in patients with COPD and are activated by specific antigens to produce mediators, such as cytokines. The antigens that activate lung T cells have not been clearly defined. Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is the dominant bacterium isolated from the lungs of patients with COPD.ObjectiveWe sought to measure the response of lung tissue T cells to stimulation with NTHi.MethodsWe obtained lung tissue from 69 subjects having lobectomies for lung cancer. Of the group, 39 subjects had COPD, and 30 without COPD were classified as control subjects. The lung tissue was dispersed into single-cell suspensions and stimulated with live NTHi. Cells were labeled with antibodies for 5 important inflammatory mediators in patients with COPD and analyzed by using flow cytometry.ResultsNTHi produced strong activation of both TH cells and cytotoxic T cells in the COPD cohort. The COPD cohort had significantly higher levels of cells producing TNF-α, IL-13, and IL-17 in both T-cell subsets. When control subjects were divided into those with and without a significant smoking history and compared with patients with COPD, there was a progressive increase in the numbers of T cells producing cytokines from nonsmoking control subjects to smoking control subjects to patients with COPD.ConclusionNTHi activates lung T cells in patients with COPD. This proinflammatory profibrotic response might be a key cause of inflammation in patients with COPD and has implications for treatment.Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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