TY - JOUR T1 - Primary bronchial airway epithelial cell in vitro responses to common environmental exposures JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA1315 VL - 46 IS - suppl 59 SP - PA1315 AU - Steve Turner AU - Neil McInnes AU - Matthew Davidson AU - Alison Scaife AU - David Miller AU - Daniella Spiteri AU - Sean Semple AU - Tom Engelhardt AU - Garry Walsh AU - Graham Devereux Y1 - 2015/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA1315.abstract N2 - Background: The bronchial airway epithelial cell (BAEC) is the site for initial encounters between inhaled environmental factors and the lower respiratory system. Our hypothesis was that in vitro exposures to common environmental factors will stimulate pro inflammatory mediator release from children's BAEC.Methods: Primary BAEC were obtained from children and grown in submerged culture to tertiary passage before being exposed to three concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1, 10 & 100 ug/ml), house dust mite allergen (HDM, 5, 25 & 50 ug/ml) and particulates extracted from side stream cigarette smoke (SSCS, 5, 25 & 50 ug/ml). The concentration of mediator in culture supernatant was determined using cytometric bead array. Cytokines of primary interest were interleukins (IL) -6 and -8. Concentrations of ICAM,VEGF and GM-CSF were also determined.Results: BAEC were obtained from 24 children, mean age 7.0 years, 14 boys. Compared to negative control, there was increased IL-6, IL-8 and ICAM release after exposure to all three concentrations of HDM (p≤0.001 for all comparisons, see figure) but no increase in VEGF or GM-CSF. There was no increase in any mediator concentration after exposures to LPS or SSCS.Conclusions: The findings from this in vitro model implicate the BAEC as having a role in the inflammatory response of the lower respiratory tract to some exposures, independent of the cellular immune system. ER -