Immunologic Reactions of Bronchial Tissues in Asthma

Abstract

Bronchial tissues obtained from 18 patients with bronchial asthma showed thickened basement membranes that stained positively for immunoglobulins in five of 11 biopsy specimens and six of seven autopsy specimens. Complement (C3) was identified in the deposit in three cases. IgM was the immunoglobulin most frequently seen. Similar studies in controls demonstrated no basement-membrane thickening, but fluorescence with antiserum to IgG was found in 10 per cent and to IgM in 3 per cent. These deposits beneath the bronchial basement membrane may represent precipitation of antibody from serum with respiratory antigens from the bronchial lumen, a process that appears to occur frequently in asthma and less frequently in other forms of pulmonary disease.