title: Eotaxin expression by epithelial cells and plasma cells in chronic asthma.
abstract: Chemoattractants such as eotaxin are believed to play an important role in the recruitment of eosinophils into the airways in asthma. We investigated expression of eotaxin in the airway wall in a model of chronic human asthma, in which systemically sensitized mice were exposed to low mass concentrations of aerosolized antigen for 6 weeks. In these animals, the number of intraepithelial eosinophils in the airways was significantly increased 3 hours after exposure and declined by 24 hours. In parallel, immunoreactivity for eotaxin was strikingly up-regulated in airway epithelial cells and in inflammatory cells in the lamina propria. The latter were identified as plasma cells by double immunofluorescent labeling. Increased expression of eotaxin by epithelial cells and plasma cells was also demonstrated in a case of fatal human asthma. In contrast, sensitized mice that received a single exposure to a high mass concentration of aerosolized antigen exhibited delayed eosinophil recruitment, which did not correlate with eotaxin expression. Furthermore, in sensitized chronically exposed interleukin-13-deficient mice there was virtually no recruitment of eosinophils into the airways, although eotaxin expression was greater than or equal to that in wild-type mice. These results indicate that there are striking differences between acute and chronic exposure models in the time course of eotaxin expression and eosinophil recruitment. Although high eotaxin levels alone are not sufficient to cause recruitment of eosinophils into the airways, recurrent exposure may generate or up-regulate additional signals required for eosinophil chemotaxis.
authors.affiliation: Inflammation Research Unit, Department of Pathology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. R.Kumar@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Rakesh K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Da-Qiang
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Seetoo
authors.forename: Cristan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: Andrew N J
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lloyd
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001980:Bronchi / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002452:Cell Count; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018793:Interleukin-13 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; C515456:CCL11 protein, human; C515457:Ccl11 protein, mouse; D054413:Chemokine CCL11; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D002631:Chemotactic Factors, Eosinophil; D018793:Interleukin-13; D010047:Ovalbumin