title: Basophils and mast cells in airway inflammation and asthma.
abstract: Accumulation of basophils and mast cells in airway tissues during allergic and allergic-type inflammatory responses, including asthma, is one of the hallmarks of these disease processes. Contributing mechanisms include induction of differentiation of the cell lineages, including production of differentiation-specific cytokines for these lineages within the tissues; enhanced survival of the cells during inflammation within the airways; attraction to tissue factors such as extracellular matrix proteins (fibronectin and vitronectin) in inflammation; and heterogeneity of the cells and their products during both early- and late-phase responses within the inflamed airways. Whether the mast cell and basophil can be simplistically assigned a role for early- and late-phase responses, respectively, and whether the cells are both necessary and sufficient for the ongoing asthmatic response, including the development of bronchial hyper-responsiveness, remain to be studied. The relative contributions of basophils, mast cells, eosinophils and T cells to the inflammatory process and production of proinflammatory and hemopoietic cytokines within inflamed airway tissues remain subjects of active investigation.
authors.affiliation: McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. denburg@fhs.csu.mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Denburg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D001491:Basophils / Q000276:immunology*; D001706:Biopsy; D001980:Bronchi / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000032:analysis; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators