Study design and subjects
From July 2017 to March 2018, wheezing Chinese children aged 3 months to
6 years hospitalized or in clinic in the Division of Pulmonary
Pediatrics at Shanghai Xinhua hospital and Shanghai children’s Medical
center affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
were enrolled in this study (wheezing was confirmed by doctors at the
time of admission or from documentation in medical records). Exclusion
criteria were: 1) bronchopulmonary dysplasia, tracheobronchial foreign
bodies or congenital heart disease; 2) acute and chronic infectious
diseases; 3) immunomodulatory treatment before or during the study; and
4) the researchers considered the patient inappropriate for inclusion.
The study was examined and approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai
Xinhua hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of
Medicine and the guardians of all included children provided signed
informed consent. The history of allergic diseases (AR and AD diagnosed
by specialists) and family allergic history were collected through
questionnaires filled out by the parents. Additionally, respiratory
symptoms and history of anti-allergy drug use were provided by the
family members and recorded for the study. At inclusion, 2 ml peripheral
blood was taken without anticoagulant from all the patients for
allergen-specific IgE testing, and 1 ml blood using heparin as
anticoagulant was collected to determine the proportion of circulating
CD4+CCR6+CRTh2+memory-type
Th2 cells flow-cytometrically.