Enhanced eosinophil luminol-dependent chemiluminescence in allergic rhinitis.

Eosinophils were isolated from patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis, and their functional activity was evaluated by their luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) response to opsonized zymosan and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). We found that eosinophils from patients with allergic rhinitis produced a significantly greater CL response to opsonized zymosan than did normal cells. Eosinophils from both subjects with allergic rhinitis and control subjects were isolated to a purity of 95% and elicited peak values of 1,101, 901 +/- 133,708 cpm/5 X 10(5) cells (n = 7) and 417,278 +/- 25,910 cpm/5 X 10(5) cells (n = 5), respectively. The enhanced eosinophil CL to zymosan was found at times when the patients were maximally symptomatic with hay fever symptoms to ragweed pollen and again when they were asymptomatic. Eosinophils from these patients with allergic rhinitis also had enhanced CL to PMA (0.01 mcg/ml), but this increased activity was largely limited to times of hay fever symptoms. No correlation was found between enhanced eosinophil CL activity and the number of circulating eosinophils in allergic individuals. In contrast to the increased eosinophil activity, neutrophil CL to zymosan and PMA was similar in allergic and normal individuals throughout the study. These data provide evidence for the existence of enhanced oxidative metabolic function in eosinophils from patients with allergic rhinitis and raise the possibility that this particular activity is important in hay fever.