Effect of interleukin-5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor on in vitro eosinophil function: comparison with airway eosinophils.

Eosinophils are hypothesized to be crucial in the development of allergic airway inflammation; however, the actual mechanisms that determine their inflammatory activity are still largely undefined. To investigate the factors that regulate eosinophil function in allergic airway disease, we have previously used segmental bronchoprovocation with allergen to study ex vivo eosinophil function. To determine whether the functional changes associated with airway eosinophils obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage 48 hours after antigen challenge are caused by exposure to airway-generated cytokines, normodense blood eosinophils were cultured in vitro with recombinant human interleukin-5 (IL-5) or granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The effect of cytokine exposure was then evaluated on selected cell functions. In vitro incubation with these cytokines for 24 hours significantly increased eosinophil membrane expression of CD18 and CD11b compared with culture in medium alone or eosinophils obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage. N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-stimulated superoxide anion generation was slightly but significantly enhanced by incubation with IL-5 but not with GM-CSF. In addition, spontaneous adhesion to human umbilical vein endothelial cell monolayers was increased after exposure to both IL-5 and GM-CSF. However, activated adhesion was enhanced only by culture with IL-5 and stimulation with N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. The magnitude of functional changes after in vitro preincubation of eosinophils with these cytokines did not achieve levels of superoxide anion and adhesion noted with airway eosinophils obtained after segmental bronchoprovocation with allergen. These observations raise the possibility that the contribution of IL-5 and GM-CSF to phenotypic changes of airway eosinophils is principally to enhance survival and expression of adhesion proteins. These data also suggest that, in addition to the generation of proinflammatory cytokines, other factors contribute to phenotypic changes in eosinophils as they migrate from the blood to the airway.