title: Secretion of a chemotactic factor for neutrophils and eosinophils by alveolar macrophages from asthmatic patients.
abstract: The studies presented in this article demonstrate the release of an IgE-dependent chemotactic factor for polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and eosinophils by alveolar macrophages (AMs) from normal subjects (n = 15) and allergic asthmatic patients (n = 15). A 60-minute incubation of normal AMs previously sensitized by 20% nonheated allergic sera with anti-human IgE antibody or the related allergen induced the release of a chemotactic activity (CA) for PMN and eosinophils in culture supernatants. When AMs were obtained from asthmatic patients, direct incubation with anti-IgE or the related allergen induced the same CA, whereas incubation with an unrelated allergen failed to produce CA (neutrophil CA after addition of anti-IgE, 22.5 +/- 3.5 cells per high power field; with related allergen, 15.8 +/- 3.6; with unrelated allergen, 0.7 +/- 1.8; p less than 0.0001). A partial characterization of the neutrophil chemotactic factor was carried out. Enzymatic treatment by trypsin or carboxypeptidase or by heating (56 degrees C for 3 hr) failed to abolish the neutrophil CA. After gel filtration the greater part of the neutrophil CA (80%) was recovered among low-molecular-weight components (300 to 1300 daltons). A preliminary deactivation of PMN by leukotriene B4 suppressed the CA of AM supernatants. These results indicate that IgE-dependent stimulation of AMs produces a neutrophil and eosinophil CA, present in a low-molecular-weight fraction possibly related to leukotrienes, and emphasizes the role of AMs in inflammatory lung processes during allergic asthma.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000494:pharmacology; D001249:Asthma / Q000378:metabolism*; D002630:Chemotactic Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D002630:Chemotactic Factors; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D005966:Glucuronidase