| Project/Area Number |
08670860
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Pediatrics
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Medical and Dental University |
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Principal Investigator |
NONOYAMA Shigeaki Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 医学部, 助手 (40280961)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1998
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1998)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
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| Keywords | Mast cells / FcepsilonRI / IL-4 / Allergy |
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| Research Abstract |
Recently, we have established a culture system of human mast cells derived from cord blood mononuclear cells in the presence of stem cell factor (SCF) and IL-6. More than 99% of the cultured cells express c-kit antigen and contain tryptase and histamine, indicating that these cultured cells posses the typical features of mast cells. This culture system provides us with an excellent model to study the effect of cytokines on human mast cells.
Here we report that IL-4 induces FcepsilonRl expression on human mast cells resulting in high histamine release. We also found that IL-4 promotes the growth of the cultured human mast cells as well as the increased expression of LFA- 1 and ICAM- 1 causing homotypic aggregation of the cells. These results demonstrate that IL-4 is a potent activating factor for human mast cells and may play an important role in the allergic reaction caused by mast cells. Since IL-4 is produced in increased amounts by T cells of patients with allergic disorders, mast cells of allergic individuals may be in a constant hyper-reactive state and contribute to all processes of allergic inflammation. The signal transduction pathway of the IL-4 on the activation of mast cells, which is likely to be regulated in transcriptional level, is now on study.
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