title: Are we ready to downregulate mast cells?
abstract: Downregulation of mast cells (MCs) function and/or survival is warranted in allergic inflammation (AI), mastocytosis/MC leukemias and in other inflammatory diseases in which MCs have a central role. Human MCs (hMCs) have been recently shown to express the death receptor (DR) TRAIL and the inhibitory receptors (IRs) CD300a and Siglec-8. TRAIL is the only known DR functional on hMCs, and interestingly its function is upregulated by IgE-dependent MC activation. The newly described IRs, CD300a and Siglec-8, potently downregulate MC activation and survival in vitro and inhibit different IgE-mediated responses in vivo. Therefore a selective targeting of TRAIL and of IRs on MC could be a novel immunopharmacological way to downregulate MC-associated diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12065, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karra
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Berent-Maoz
authors.forename: Micha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben-Zimra
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Levi-Schaffer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000276:immunology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D053218:Receptors, Death Domain / Q000276:immunology; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D053218:Receptors, Death Domain; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand