title: The role of RANTES in a murine model of food allergy.
abstract: Food allergy is an important and common health issue, and there is a need to identify and characterize the sensitizing mechanisms. One of the common causes of food allergy is ovalbumin (OVA), a dietary antigen from eggs. We hypothesized that OVA-induced food allergy in the gut involves the activation of the chemokine regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), which then recruits eosinophils to lesioned tissue. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether RANTES expression correlates with eosinophil infiltration in the gut of OVA-sensitized BALB/c mice in response to oral OVA challenge. BALB/c mice were immunized with OVA 1 microg and sensitized after 2 weeks by intragastric administration of OVA. Sensitization to the oral OVA challenge was analyzed by examining eosinophil infiltration into the gut tissue (immunohistochemistry), mucosal eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) concentration, and RANTES mRNA expression (reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Southern blotting) at 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after the challenge. There was marked edema of the intestinal villi, and eosinophil infiltration to the lamina propria peaked at 6 h in OVA-sensitized mice. RANTES mRNA expression peaked at 3 h and 6 h and declined thereafter. The expression of RANTES mRNA in the allergic mice was much higher than in the nonallergic, normal, or unsensitized control mice. Tissue eosinophilia and intestinal ECP levels were significantly correlated with the RANTES mRNA level. We conclude that RANTES may play a central role in the pathogenesis of food-mediated gastrointestinal allergy.
authors.affiliation: The 2nd Department of Physiology, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan. leejb@sch.ac.kr
authors.forename: Jeong-Beom
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Young-Oh
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hun-Mo
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Young-Ki
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Othman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Timothy
authors.forename: Sang-Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Fu-Shi
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Quan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004487:Edema / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D004531:Eggs; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D007583:Jejunum / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D010047:Ovalbumin