The regulation of human eosinophil function by cytokines.

The factors responsible for eosinophil regulation fall broadly into three categories - endogenous chemotactic molecules, factors derived from invading organisms and the cytokines. As David Silberstein and John David reveal, cytokines appear to prime eosinophils for a cytotoxic response to invading organisms. While it seems unlikely that there is a common mechanism for this enhancement of cytotoxicity (and the concomitant inflammation at the site of challenge), much effort is being expanded in order to determine the relationships between the less well characterized eosinophil-stimulating activities and their modes of action.