| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
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| Research Abstract |
ECF-L is the eosinophil chemotactic cytokine that belong to the chitinase family proteins. In the present study, we identified the role of eosinophil chemotactic cytokine ECF-L in Schistosoma or Mesocestoides-infected mouse. Extra-medulla hemopoietic focii of eosinophilic linage were observed around eosinophilic granulomatous lesions in the liver upon infection with those tissue-dwelling parasites. Immature eosinophils with donut-type ring nuclei were generally observed in those extra-medulla hemopoietic foci, whereas mature eosinophil with polymorphic nuclei were generally observed in the eosinophilic granulomatous lesions, indicating that those eosinophils were recruited there by chemotactic factors.
In order to clarify the role of ECF-L in parasitic infections, we employed the time-course study of the granulomatous lesion formation in schistosomiasis japonicum and schistosomiasis mekongi. When eosinophil chemotactic activity of the culture supernatants of the granulomatous lesions fr
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om S. japonicum or S. mekongi-infected mice, the peak of the eosinophil chemotactic activity was observed at 6 week and at 15 wk post-infection, in S. japonicum infection and in S. mekongi infection, respectively. In S. japonicum infection, intense accumulation of inflammatory eosinophils were observed around the deposited eggs in the liver at 6 wk post-infection. In contrast, slower granuloma formation with many vacuoles were observed at 9-12 weeks after S. mekongi infection. At 15 weeks after infection, most of the vacuoles were disappeared from the granulomatous lesions. Thus, the production of ECF-L was closely related with the change of the feature of granulomatous lesions both in schistosomiasis japonicum and schistosomiasis mekongi. Furthermore, pre-incubation of eosinophils with chitinase A resulted in the increase of ECF activity to ECF-L or synthetic ECF-L peptides. These facts indicates that ECF-L acts not only chemoattractants but also the stimulator of eosinophils for the enhancement of leukotactic functions. Less
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