Relationship between eosinophilia and levels of chemokines (CCL5 and CCL11) and IL-5 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with mustard gas-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: Therefore, this study was designed to analyze the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid concentrations of interleukin-5 (IL-5), normal T cell expressed and presumably secreted (RANTES; CCL5), and eotaxin (CCL11) and also to examine the relationship between the percentage and absolute number of the BAL eosinophils and these measured chemokines in patients with sulfur mustard (SM) gas-induced pulmonary fibrosis (PF). PATIENTS: Included in this study were fifteen veterans with mustard gas-induced PF and 14 normal veterans as control group. INTERVENTION: Pulmonary function tests (PFTs), tests for D (LCO), computed tomography (CT) scans of the chest, analyses of BAL fluids for RANTES (CCL5), eotaxin (CCL11), and IL-5 were performed in all cases.
RESULTS: Eosinophilic alveolitis was the predominant feature (p < 0.0001). There were significant differences in CCL5, CCL11, and IL-5 levels of BAL fluid between patients with PF and controls (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.001, respectively). The concentrations of CCL5 and CCL11 showed positive correlations with percentage (r = 0.57 and p = 0.03, r = 0.52 and p = 0.04, respectively) and absolute counts (r = 0.54 and p = 0.04, r = 0.53 and p = 0.04, respectively) of BAL eosinophils. There were significant positive correlations between the concentrations of IL-5 and the proportion and total cell number of eosinophils in BAL (r = 0.67 and p = 0.01; r = 0.59 and p = 0.02, respectively) too.
CONCLUSION: A significant correlation between BAL CCL5, CCL11, and IL-5 levels and eosinophils in patients with pulmonary fibrosis caused by SM gas inhalation has been demonstrated, suggesting that these C-C chemokines and IL-5 contribute to the recruitment of eosinophils cells in the lung in these victims.