S. Katoh et al., Elevated chemokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients witheosinophilic pneumonia, J ALLERG CL, 106(4), 2000, pp. 730-736
Background: Allergic lung inflammation is caused by accumulation and activa
tion of different leukocyte subsets, such as eosinophils and T lymphocytes,
in the lung, The chemokines are a large group of chemotactic cytokines tha
t regulate leukocyte trafficking and may play an important role in allergic
lung inflammation.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of various ch
emokines, including eotaxin, RANTES, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1,
macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1 beta, and IL-8 in the pathogenesis
of eosinophilic pneumonia (EP).
Methods: The concentrations of eotaxin, RANTES, MCP-1, MIP-1 beta, and IL-8
in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by using ELISA in 15
patients with EP, 10 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, 10 with sarcoidosi
s, and 11 healthy volunteers.
Results: Eotaxin in BALF was high only in patients with EP, and its level c
orrelated significantly with the number of eosinophils in BALF of patients
with EP and healthy volunteers. MCP-1 and MIP-1 beta in BALF were preferent
ially increased in patients with EP. There was a significant correlation be
tween MCP-1 levels and the number of macrophages in BALF of patients with E
P and healthy volunteers.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that these CC chemokines contribute to the
pathogenesis of EP through the specific recruitment of leukocyte subsets i
n the lung.