Hj. Mengelers et al., IMMUNOPHENOTYPING OF EOSINOPHILS RECOVERED FROM BLOOD AND BAL OF ALLERGIC ASTHMATICS, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 149(2), 1994, pp. 345-351
Citations number
37
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
Studies of bronchoalveolar ravage (BAL) fluid from patients with aller
gic asthma have demonstrated active migration of eosinophils into the
bronchial lumen after allergen challenge. The mechanisms mediating thi
s eosinophil infiltration and cell activation are largely unexplained.
The expression of several cell-surface molecules was measured on eosi
nophils derived from blood and BAL fluid 4 h after an allergen-induced
early asthmatic reaction in order to find indications for a role of t
hese molecules during extravasation to and activation in the bronchial
compartment. Nine patients with allergic asthma participated in the s
tudy An eosinophil-specific, high-depolarization signal enabled us to
measure expression on eosinophils in a fluorescence activated cell sor
ter (FACS) analysis without isolation of these cells. Eosinophils reco
vered from BAL showed a different phenotype than blood eosinophils; up
regulation of CR-3, p150/95, CD67, and CD63, and downregulation of L-s
electin indicate that the cells are activated in terms of degranulatio
n. Up-regulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), LFA-3,
and human leukocyte antigen II (HLA-II) might enable cell-cell contac
t between T-lymphocytes and eosinophils, probably leading to immunomod
ulation and cell activation. The finding that eosinophils in BAL are a
ctivated and can interact with T cells is further evidence for the pro
inflammatory role of these cells in allergic asthma.