Inhalation Toxicology, 12(Supplement 4):1–14, 2000 Copyright © 2000 Taylor & Francis 0895-8378/00 $12.00 + .00 IMMUNE BIOMARKERS IN RELATION TO EXPOSURE TO PARTICULATE MATTER: A Cross-Sectional Survey in 17 Cities of Central Europe G. S. Leonardi London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom D. Houthuijs, P. A. Steerenberg National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands T. Fletcher, B. Armstrong London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom T. Antova National Centre of Hygiene, Soa, Bulgaria Received 5 April 2000; sent for revision 1 May 2000; accepted 31 May 2000. The Central European Study on Air Pollution and Respiratory Health (CESAR) was funded by the Com- mission of the European Communities (CEC): Directorate General XII, Science Research and Development in the framework of the Cooperation with Third Countries and International Organizations research and technological development programme, and Directorate General I, External Economic Relations, in the framework of the nancial and technical assistance provided to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) under the Phare Multi-Country Environment programme. E. Lebret, B. Brunekreef, T. Fletcher, and D. Houthuijs designed and supervised the overall CESAR study. H. van Loveren and P. A. Steerenberg proposed the immune biomarkers and supervised the develop- ment of the laboratory protocols, and D. Houthuijs coordinated the implementation of the interlaboratory comparisons and main survey. B. Armstrong provided statistical advice. G. S. Leonardi coordinated the data management, cleaned and analyzed the pooled data, and prepared the article. Several coauthors contributed to the nal version of the article. E. Erdei presented preliminary results at the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA) PM 2000 Conference held in Charleston, SC, 24–28 January 2000. The members of the national research teams most involved in this component were: Bulgaria, B. Nikiforov, T. An- tova; Czech Republic, J. Volf, I. Tomasek; Hungary, P. Rudnai, I. Farkas, E. Erdei; Poland, J. Zejda, B. Jazwiec- Kanyion; Romania, E. Gurzau, E. Niciu, C. Marinescu; Slovakia, E. Fabianova, K. Koppova, A. Keleova. The following immunologists were responsible for one or more immunological analyses: K. S. Plochev, Centre of Immunology, Military Medical Academy, Soa, Bulgaria; I. Lochman and A. Lochmanov´a, Regional Institute of Hygiene, Ostrava, Czech Republic; E. Kereki, Central Laboratory, Svabhegy Children Hospital, Budapest, Hungary; A. Szczeklik and M. Grzywacz, II Katedra Chorob Wewnetrznych, Jagiellonian Universit y, Krakow, Poland; S. Durbaca, Cantacuzino Institute, Ministry of Health, Bucharest, Romania; S. Tymova, Department of Clinical Immunology, Roosevelt Hospital, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic. Address correspondence to Dr. G. S. Leonardi, Environmental Epidemiology Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT. E-mail: giovanni.leonardi@lshtm.ac.uk 1