title: Gene expression of interleukin-2 in purified human peripheral blood eosinophils.
abstract: To verify the hypothesis that eosinophils produce interleukin-2 (IL-2), a cytokine essential for lymphocyte activation, the expression of IL-2 was examined in peripheral blood eosinophils obtained from normal, atopic, asthmatic and hypereosinophilic subjects. Purified blood cell preparations were > 95% eosinophils, the remaining cells being neutrophils. Based on morphological observations and on CD3 expression, no lymphocytes were detected in these eosinophil preparations. The expression of IL-2 mRNA was detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in total RNA extracted from purified eosinophils stimulated with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), with or without calcium ionophore (A23187). In-cell RT-PCR combined with in situ hybridization further confirmed that it was the eosinophils that expressed IL-2 mRNA. Moreover, in this experiment IL-2 mRNA expression increased upon costimulation with A23187 and GM-CSF suggesting that a steady-state level of IL-2 mRNA was inducible. Finally, IL-2 was detected in purified eosinophils by immunochemistry. These data, obtained by different techniques, demonstrate that eosinophils can express IL-2. An IL-2-mediated eosinophil-lymphocyte interaction could contribute to the chronic state of cell activation in inflamed tissues where these cells are implicated.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche, Centre de Pneumologie de l'Hôpital Laval, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bossé
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Audette
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferland
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelletier
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dakhama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lavigne
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Boulet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laviolette
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000276:immunology; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger