Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 240 E. Huron Street, Room M306, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
Semin Immunopathol. 2021 Jun;43(3):459-475. doi: 10.1007/s00281-021-00849-w. Epub 2021 Apr 23.
Eosinophils are a minor subset of the granulocyte lineage distinguished by their unique morphology, phenotype, cytoplasmic contents, and function. Evolutionarily, these are ancient cells whose existence has been conserved within vertebrates for millions of years, suggesting that their contribution to innate immunity and other pathologic and homeostatic responses are important to the host. Knowledge regarding the role of eosinophils in health and disease took a leap forward in 2004 with the creation of mouse strains deficient in eosinophils. This advance was paralleled in humans using pharmacology, namely, with the development of drugs capable of selectively reducing and sometimes even eliminating human eosinophils in those receiving these agents. As a result, a more definitive picture of what eosinophils do, and do not do, is emerging. This review will summarize recent advances in our understanding of the role of eosinophils in human disease by focusing mainly on data from clinical studies with anti-eosinophil therapies, even though the first of such agents, mepolizumab, was only approved in the USA in November 2015. Information regarding both efficacy and safety will be highlighted, and where relevant, intriguing data from animal models will also be mentioned, especially if there are conflicting effects seen in humans.
嗜酸性粒细胞是粒细胞谱系中的一个小亚群，其独特的形态、表型、细胞质内容和功能将其区分开来。从进化的角度来看，这些细胞是古老的，它们在脊椎动物中的存在已经被保存了数百万年，这表明它们对先天免疫和其他病理及体内平衡反应的贡献对宿主很重要。2004 年，通过创建缺乏嗜酸性粒细胞的小鼠品系，人们对嗜酸性粒细胞在健康和疾病中的作用的认识有了飞跃。这一进展在人类中得到了药理学的平行发展，即开发出能够选择性减少甚至消除接受这些药物的人类嗜酸性粒细胞的药物。因此，关于嗜酸性粒细胞的作用和不作用的更明确的情况正在出现。本综述将主要关注抗嗜酸性粒细胞治疗的临床研究数据，总结我们对嗜酸性粒细胞在人类疾病中的作用的最新认识，尽管第一种此类药物美泊利单抗于 2015 年 11 月才获得美国批准。将重点突出疗效和安全性方面的信息，并在相关情况下，还将提到来自动物模型的有趣数据，特别是如果在人类中观察到相互矛盾的效果。
