Introduction: There are a few publications about the impact of tobacco smoke on the children's immune system. Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 43 children with asthma. The control group consisted of 37 healthy children. The exposure to tobacco smoke was assessed by the presence of the cotinine in the urine (metabolit of nicotine). Results: The group of children with asthma exposed to tobacco smoke had significantly higher levels of the IL-1 and lower levels IL-4 than children not exposed to the passive smoking. The children from the control group exposed to tobacco smoke had a significantly higher concentration of IL-4 than unexposed children. In the whole analyzed population, there was a significant positive correlation between cotinine-IL1 and cotinine-CRP. Conclusion: In this study we found that the passive exposure to tobacco smoke has the immunomodulatory effects on the immune system.
Keywords: Environmental tobacco smoke; T-regulatory cells; asthma; cytokines; immunology.