S. Sur et al., EOSINOPHIL RECRUITMENT IS ASSOCIATED WITH IL-5, BUT NOT WITH RANTES, 24 HOURS AFTER ALLERGEN CHALLENGE, Journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 97(6), 1996, pp. 1272-1278
Several lines of evidence suggest that the chemokine RANTES may play a
role in eosinophilia observed during allergic inflammation. To rest t
his hypothesis six patients with allergic asthma were studied. After p
erforming bronchoalveolar lavage in a lung segment (baseline), segment
al bronchoprovocation was performed with saline solution in another se
gment and with ragweed in a third segment. Bronchoalveolar lavage was
performed 24 hours Inter in the saline-challenged (sham) and ragweed-c
hallenged lung segments. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from the ba
seline, sham, and ragweed segments were analyzed for cell counts and f
or the levels of IL-5, RANTES, and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin. IL-5
levels were elevated in the ragweed (984 +/- 588 pg/ml) compared with
sham segments (2.8 +/- 0.2 pg/ml, p = 0.02). Likewise, RANTES levels
were elevated in the ragweed (12.93 +/- 3.4 pg/ml) compared with the s
ham segments (3.05 +/- 1.19 pg/ml, p = 0.006). The IL-5 levels correla
ted with both eosinophil numbers (r = 0.90, p < 0.02) and eosinophil-d
erived neurotoxin levels (r = 0.89, p < 0.02). In contrast, RANTES lev
els did not correlate with either eosinophil numbers or eosinophil-der
ived neurotoxin levels. These results indicate that although both IL-5
and RANTES are elevated 24 hours after allergen challenge only IL-5 c
orrelates with eosinophil recruitment and degranulation.