Conditions: Allergic Asthma
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 36
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study is designed to test the hypothesis that salmeterol use, and not fluticasone use or the combination treatment with fluticasone and salmeterol, is associated with a greater number of sputum eosinophils following antigen challenge and, under these circumstances, the migrating peripheral blood eosinophils are less adherent.

Detailed description:
An antigen challenge is when a participant inhales either cat, ragweed, or dust dander in increasing concentrations until their lung function drops 15 or 20 percent.

Arms:
arm 1: Placebo comparator arm 2: Salmeterol Diskus 50 mcg twice per day arm 3: placebo diskus, fluticasone MDI 88 mcg twice per day arm 4: Salmeterol diskus 50 mcg BID, fluticasone MDI 88 mcg twice per day

Interventions: intervention 1: salmeterol intervention 2: Fluticasone intervention 3: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: salmeterol diskus 50 mcg twice per day intervention 2: placebo diskus, fluticasone MDI 88 mcg twice per day intervention 3: placebo diskus

Protocol document: