THE INFLUENCE OF PHOTOHEMOTHERAPY ON IMMUNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Background: Photohemotherapy combined with conventional therapy can increase the treatment efficacy in asthma. However, the influence of quantumhemotherapy on pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease has been poorly studied.

Aim: To evaluate the influence of blue and red light hemotherapy on blood immunological parаmeters in asthma patients.

Materials and methods: Four hundred and eighty patients admitted to the in-patient department with mild (44.5%) and severe (55.5%) exacerbations of persistent moderate asthma, were randomized into two groups: the main group (n = 250), which, along with conventional treatment, received photohemotherapy with blue (n = 220) or red (n = 30) light, and the control group (n = 230), which received conventional treatment only. Before and after treatment, immunological assessments were performed that included phenotyping of the lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD16, CD19, CD56), assessment of phagocytal activity of leukocytes, measurement of circulating immune complexes (CIC) and immunoglobulin levels (IgE, IgG, IgM and IgA).

Results: After combined treatment, compared to baseline values, patients from the main group had a significant increase in СD3+-lymphocytes (from 32.34 ± 2.28 to 60.73 ± 0.67%) and their immunoregulatory subpopulations – СD4+-helpers (from 17.94 ± 2.01 to 38.55 ± 0.72%) and СD8+- suppressors (from 17.38 ± 1.98 to 27.6 ± 0.48%), as well as a trend towards a decrease in СD16+-killers (from 24.55 ± 0.43 to 16.65 ± 0.37%) and an increase in СD19+ В-cells (from 25.12 ± 1.12 to 27.15 ± 0.45%), a decrease of IgE (from 68.3 ± 0.51 to 60.2 ± 0.61%) and CIC (from 54.5 ± 1.22 to 40.3 ± 0.12%). In the control group, there was a trend towards a decrease of СD3+-lymphocytes (59.83 ± 0.7 and 59.27 ± 0.715%) and СD4+-helpers (38.8 ± 0.5 and 38.41 ± 0.64%), normal counts of СD8+-suppressors (28.12 ± 0.58%), and a trend towards a decrease in СD16+-killers (28.2 ± 0.6 and 26.0 ± 0.57%) and an increase in СD19+ В-cells (29.22 ± 0.6 and 29.47 ± 0.58%), a decrease of IgE (68.8 ± 0.91 and 55.2 ± 0.55%) and CIC levels (49.2 ± 0.9 and 45.3 ± 1.05%, respectively). Analysis of cytokine profiles after conventional treatment showed a non-significant decrease in mean levels of allergic inflammatory interleukins (IL) (from 90.5 to 88.3 pg/mL for IL4 and from 68.25 to 67.4 pg/mL for IL5), as well as a non-significant increase in mean concentrations of infectious inflammatory cytokines (from 1.81 to 1.85 pg/mL for IL10 and from 3.72 to 3.89 pg/mL for IFNγ). The use of photohemotherapy led to a decrease in abnormally high IL4 levels almost to the normal (68.55 pg/mL) and to a trend to a decrease in IL5 levels (42.1 pg/mL). Also, there was a significant increase in IL10 (3.91 pg/mL) and IFNγ (5.23 pg/mL) levels to above their baseline values. In patients with severe asthma, a significantly decreased IgM levels were found, both before and after the course of blue light photohemotherapy (0.97 ± 0.1 and 0.89 ± 0.2 g/L, respectively). After treatment, serum IgG levels increased significantly in patients with moderate asthma, compared to baseline (18.3 ± 2.7 and 11.54 ± 0.8 g/L), whereas initially high levels in patients with severe asthma became normal (15.9 ± 4.8 and 18.3 ± 2.7 g/L, respectively).

Conclusion: The use of photohemotherapy exerts marked positive effect on blood immunological parameters in asthma patients. The use of blue light is more effective, compared to red light photohemotherapy.