Methods： All of 86 dust mite allergic asthma children with mild to moderate severity were enrolled (male63,female23) in asthma center of Beijing Children’s Hospital from February in2012 to October in 2013. Among of them,29 patients (male22,female 7) took sublingual dust mite specific immunotherapy(SLIT group),13 patients (male8,female 5) took subcutaneous immunotherapy(SCIT group), 14 subjects (male14,female 0) had completed the3-years treatment process (after SCIT treatment group ),and the other 30 asthmatic children (male19,female11)without immunotherapy was enrolled as control group. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from all the subjects and in vitro stimulated with HDM extracted (0μg/mL, 2.5 μg/mL, 5 μg/mL)for 48 hours, and then the relative percentage of Treg were measured by flow cytometry.
Results：In the unstimulation condition(Der p1=0μg/mL), the the baseline relative percentage of Treg in each group was significantly higher than that under stimulated condition. Besides, the baseline Treg% in SCIT group was significantly higher than that in the control group and in the SLIT group,however,there is no significant difference in the Treg% between SCIT group and those had accomplished the 3-years SCIT treatment.
Conclusion：It seemed that it is more likely and effectively to induce regulatory T cells in asthmatic children by SCIT when compared with SLIT, and this effect could remain for a period of time even after the whole specific treatment procedure.