Oyamada Hajime, Kamada Yumiko, Saito Norihiro, Tsuda Akira, Urayama Osamu, Yamada Hidekazu, Hirasawa Hiroyuki, Yamaguchi Kazutoshi, Ueki Shigeharu, Chihara Junichi
Department of Clinical and Laboratory Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, Akita, Japan.
Allergol Int. 2006 Sep;55(3):253-9. doi: 10.2332/allergolint.55.253.
Eosinophils are considered to be the major inflammatory cells in asthma. Since regulated on activation, normal T expressed and secreted (RANTES) is a potent chemoattractant for various important inflammatory cells such as eosinophils as well as memory T cells potentially recruiting these cells to an inflamed focus, RANTES has been considered to play a key role in various allergic disorders such as asthma.
To extend our understanding of the participation of eosinophils and T cells in relation to the production of RANTES in response to the specific allergen in asthma, we examined the production of RANTES from peripheral blood mononuclear cells cultured with specific allergen in atopic asthma patients by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
It was revealed that mononuclear cells produced RANTES but not eotaxin in response to the specific allergen in asthma. RANTES production from mononuclear cells of asthma patients with eosinophilia was greater than that of asthma patients without eosinophilia. Moreover, in this study, no differences in RANTES production between CD4 negative cells and CD8 negative cells were observed.
Taken together, these findings may suggest that mononuclear cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis, particular in eosinophil and T lymphocyte recruitment into the inflamed focus of asthma through RANTES production in response to the specific allergen.
嗜酸性粒细胞被认为是哮喘中的主要炎症细胞。由于受激活调节正常T细胞表达和分泌因子（RANTES）是多种重要炎症细胞（如嗜酸性粒细胞以及可能将这些细胞募集到炎症灶的记忆T细胞）的强效趋化因子，RANTES被认为在哮喘等各种过敏性疾病中起关键作用。
为了进一步了解嗜酸性粒细胞和T细胞在哮喘中针对特定变应原产生RANTES方面的参与情况，我们通过夹心酶联免疫吸附测定法检测了特应性哮喘患者外周血单个核细胞与特定变应原培养后RANTES的产生情况。
结果显示，单核细胞在哮喘中针对特定变应原产生RANTES，但不产生嗜酸性粒细胞趋化因子。嗜酸性粒细胞增多的哮喘患者单核细胞产生的RANTES多于无嗜酸性粒细胞增多的哮喘患者。此外，在本研究中，未观察到CD4阴性细胞和CD8阴性细胞之间RANTES产生的差异。
综上所述，这些发现可能表明单核细胞在发病机制中起关键作用，特别是通过响应特定变应原产生RANTES，在嗜酸性粒细胞和T淋巴细胞募集到哮喘炎症灶的过程中起关键作用。
