The cellular infiltrates of certain inflammatory processes found in parasitic infection or in allergic diseases consist predominantly of eosinophilic granulocytes, often in association with activated T cells. This suggests the existence of chemotactic agonists specific for eosinophils and lymphocyte subsets devoid of neutrophil-activating properties. We therefore examined four members of the intercrine/chemokine superfamily of cytokines (monocyte chemotactic peptide 1 [MCP-1], RANTES, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α[MIP-1α], and MIP-1β), which do not activate neutrophils, for their ability to affect different eosinophil effector functions. RANTES strongly attracted normal human eosinophils by a chemotactic rather than a chemokinetic mechanism with a similar efficacy as the most potent chemotactic myeloid cell agonist, C5a. MIP-1α also induced eosinophil migration, however, with lower efficacy. RANTES and MIP-1α induced eosinophil cationic protein release in cytochalasin B-treated eosinophils, but did not promote leukotriene C4 formation by eosinophils, even after preincubation with interleukin 3 (IL-3), in contrast to other chemotactic agonists such as C5a and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). RANTES, but not MIP-1α, induced a biphasic chemiluminescence response, however, of lower magnitude than C5a. RANTES and MIP-1α both promoted identical transient changes in intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i), with kinetics similar to those induced by chemotactic peptides known to interact with G protein-coupled receptors. No cross-desensitization towards other peptide agonists (e.g., C5a, IL-8, FMLP) was observed, suggesting the presence of specific receptors. Despite its weaker eosinophil-activating properties, MIP-1α was at least 10 times more potent on a molar basis than RANTES at inducing [Ca2+]i changes. Interestingly, RANTES deactivated the MIP-1α-induced [Ca2+]i changes, while the RANTES response was preserved after MIP-1α stimulation. MCP-1, a potent monocyte chemoattractant and basophil agonist, as well as MIP-1β, a peptide with pronounced homology to MIP-1α, did not activate the eosinophil functions tested. Our results indicate that RANTES and MIP-1α are crucial mediators of inflammatory processes in which eosinophils predominate.
CITATION STYLE
Rot, A., Krieger, M., Brunner, T., Bischoff, S. C., Schall, T. J., & Dahinden, C. A. (1992). RANTES and macrophage inflammatory protein 1α induce the migration and activation of normal human eosinophil granulocytes. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 176(6), 1489–1495. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.176.6.1489
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