OBJECTIVE To study the relationship between allergic rhinitis and asthma. METHODS A total of 1526 cases of allergic rhinitis were investigated to elucidate the relationship between allergic rhinitis (A R )a n d b r o n c h i a l a s t h m a (B A ). T h e allergopharma allergic abstraction was used to detect the allergens with the skin prick test. RESULTS Among the AR patients , 43.8 % were complicated with BA. In patients with AR and BA, 52.3 % suffered from AR initially and 36.5 % suffered from BA initially. 42.4 % of the AR cases and 61.7 % of the AR with BA cases had a positive family history. In addition,30.7 % of the AR cases were complicated with allergic dermatitis. CONCLUSION The results suggested that atopic individuals with asthma or rhinitis had a tendency to develop total airway inflammation. Allergic rhinitis was also related to other allergic diseases. The skin prick test showed that the Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus was the commonest allergen in AR patients.

AIM: To investigate whether endogenous endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors(EHDFs) produced by CYP epoxygenases BM3?F87V,2C11OR or CYP2J2 transfection was able to protect endothelial cells against apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha.METHODS: Three or four passages of cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells(BAECs) were transfected with epoxygenases or the empty vector(pCB6).Cell viability was detected by MTT assay.Apoptosis of transfected endothelial cells was evaluated by DNA ladder assay,flow cytometry and morphological observations under fluorescence microscopy.RESULTS: Overexpression of CYP epoxygenases BM3?F87V,2C11OR,CYP2J2 increased cell viability respectively observed by MTT assay.The percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis was decreased in 2C11OR-,BM3F87V-or 2J2-transfected cells compared to the vector as evaluated by DNA fragment assay,flow cytometry analysis and morphological observations under fluorescence microscopy.CONCLUSION: Overexpression of CYP epoxygenases BM3?F87V,2C11OR or 2J2 increases cell viability and protects endothelial cells against TNF-?-induced apoptosis.These findings suggest new targets to investigate the endothelium-associated disorders and provide novel therapeutic strategies to treat them by modulating cytochrome P450 epoxygenases.