RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HISTAMINE-RELEASE AND LEUKOTRIENES PRODUCTION FROM HUMAN BASOPHILS DERIVED FROM ATOPIC-DERMATITIS DONORS

Basophils are known to release histamine and to produce leukotrienes ( LTs) following both IgE-dependent and -independent stimuli. Although t here exist a few reports which examined the relationship between hista mine release and LTs production, their conclusions were not always in agreement with each other. In the present study, we examined the relat ionship between histamine release and LTs production from basophils in the presence or absence of 1 ng/ml of interleukin-3 (IL-3). Normal ba sophils released a smaller amount of histamine and LTs than atopic det ermatitis (AD) basophils, when basophils were stimulated with an optim al concentration of anti-IgE antibody. When we examined the relationsh ip of histamine release and LTs production from AD donors induced thro ugh Fc epsilon RI, we found a significant exponential correlation betw een these two mediators (R(2) = 0.58 in the absence of IL-3, R(2) = 0. 83 in the presence of IL-3). Although IL-3 enhanced both histamine rel ease and LTs production from AD donors, the relationship between these two mediators was not affected. In conclusion, there was an exponenti al correlation between histamine release and LTs production from AD ba sophils, which was not affected by the pretreatment with IL-3.