Rankin S M, Conroy D M, Williams T J
Leukocyte Biology Section, Imperial College School of Medicine, London, UK.
Mol Med Today. 2000 Jan;6(1):20-7. doi: 10.1016/s1357-4310(99)01635-4.
Eosinophils have been implicated in a broad range of diseases, notably allergic conditions (for example, asthma, rhinitis and atopic dermatitis) and other inflammatory disorders (for example, inflammatory bowel disease, eosinophilic gastroenteritis and pneumonia). These disease states are characterized by an accumulation of eosinophils in tissues. Severe tissue damage ensues as eosinophils release their highly cytotoxic granular proteins. Defining the mechanisms that control recruitment of eosinophils to tissues is fundamental to understanding these disease processes and provides targets for novel drug therapy. An important discovery in this context was the identification of an eosinophil-specific chemoattractant, eotaxin. Over the past six years there has been intensive investigation into the biological effects of eotaxin and its role in specific disease processes and this is the subject of this review.
嗜酸性粒细胞与多种疾病有关，尤其是过敏性疾病（如哮喘、鼻炎和特应性皮炎）以及其他炎症性疾病（如炎症性肠病、嗜酸性粒细胞性胃肠炎和肺炎）。这些疾病状态的特征是嗜酸性粒细胞在组织中积聚。随着嗜酸性粒细胞释放其具有高度细胞毒性的颗粒蛋白，会导致严重的组织损伤。确定控制嗜酸性粒细胞向组织募集的机制对于理解这些疾病过程至关重要，并为新型药物治疗提供了靶点。在这方面的一项重要发现是鉴定出一种嗜酸性粒细胞特异性趋化因子——嗜酸性粒细胞趋化蛋白。在过去六年中，人们对嗜酸性粒细胞趋化蛋白的生物学效应及其在特定疾病过程中的作用进行了深入研究，这也是本综述的主题。
