IL17A and asthma: To further study a potential role of Th17 cells in asthma, we used the technique of induced sputum in combination with quantitative real-time RT-PCR to quantify the expression of IL-17A and IL-8 mRNA in relation to each other, to CD3γ mRNA as a quantification of T cells, and to the neutrophilic inflammation in the airways of patients with asthma.