Elevated chemokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with eosinophilic pneumonia.
BACKGROUND
Allergic lung inflammation is caused by accumulation and activation of different leukocyte subsets, such as eosinophils and T lymphocytes, in the lung. The chemokines are a large group of chemotactic cytokines that 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 chemokines, including eotaxin, RANTES, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1beta, and IL-8 in the pathogenesis of eosinophilic pneumonia (EP).


METHODS
The concentrations of eotaxin, RANTES, MCP-1, MIP-1beta, 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 sarcoidosis, and 11 healthy volunteers.


RESULTS
Eotaxin in BALF was high only in patients with EP, and its level correlated significantly with the number of eosinophils in BALF of patients with EP and healthy volunteers. MCP-1 and MIP-1beta in BALF were preferentially increased in patients with EP. There was a significant correlation between MCP-1 levels and the number of macrophages in BALF of patients with EP and healthy volunteers.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that these CC chemokines contribute to the pathogenesis of EP through the specific recruitment of leukocyte subsets in the lung.
Katoh
S
S
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Miyazaki Medical College, Miyazaki, Japan.
Matsumoto
N
N
Fukushima
K
K
Mukae
H
H
Kadota
J I
JI
Kohno
S
S
Matsukura
S
S
D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000378:metabolism; D054407:Chemokine CCL4; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000378:metabolism; D018925:Chemokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000378:metabolism; D019402:Macrophage Inflammatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011657:Pulmonary Eosinophilia / Q000378:metabolism*
C515456:CCL11 protein, human; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D054407:Chemokine CCL4; D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D018925:Chemokines; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D016207:Cytokines; D016209:Interleukin-8; D019402:Macrophage Inflammatory Proteins