SELECTED ARTICLES FROM THE RECENT LITERATURE 2008 5/21/2008 The Relationship Between The Eosinophil and the Late Phase Response and Bronchial Reactivity Summary The authors investigated 38 untreated mild asthmatic patients with a mean age of 21.2 years utilizing oral inhalation allergen challenge. They measured early and late phase responses assessed by pulmonary function and also performed methacholine inhalation challenges. Their goal was to assess the relationship between these measurements and findings obtained on differential blood cell counts, sputum and blood levels of eosinophilic cationic protein, and blood levels of neutrophil chemotactic factor. They observed that baseline blood sputum eosinophilia correlated with severity of the late asthmatic response and baseline methacholine challenge responses. Reference Dente F, et al. Magnitude of late asthmatic response to allergen in relation to baseline and allergen-induced sputum eosinophilia in mild asthmatic patients. Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology 2008; 100:457-462.   © Copyright 1997-2008 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology All rights reserved