[The study of circulating endothelial cells in patients with bronchial asthma]

To assess blood circulating endotheliocytes (CE) as a marker of endothelial dysfunction in patients with bronchial asthma (BA), 58 BA patients, aged 19-52, (mean age 37.7 +/- 1.8 years) were examined. The number of CE in the blood was measured by J. Hladovec method (1978). BA patients had a significantly elevated count of EC in active exacerbation and insignificantly elevated count in attenuating exacerbation compared to that of control healthy subjects. Thus, the severity of BA correlates with the severity of endothelial affection: patients with severe BA and with attenuating BA exacerbation had more CE than normal subjects while in moderate disease the CE levels in the patients and controls are comparable.