Eosinophil-specific autoantibodied in patients with eosinophilic pneumonia

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K17689
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 53030:Respiratory medicine-related
• Research Institution: University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan
• Principal Investigator: Kawabata Hiroki 産業医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (80649054)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: Eosinophil / Autoantibody

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is an eosinophilic lung disease of unknown cause. It is associated with a high rate of asthma and other allergic diseases and responds markedly to corticosteroids, although 30-50% of patients relapse following tapering/withdrawal of steroids. There are no known markers that reflect the onset or disease course of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. In this study, we used various methods to detect autoantibodies that may serve as disease markers for chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. Although we were unable to detect disease-specific autoantibodies in this study, we were able to establish an immunoprecipitation method using AML14.3D10 cell ines, which are derived from human acute myelogenous leukemia cells. We believe that this method can be used to detect disease-specific autoantibodies in chronic eosinophilic pneumonia in the future.

Free Research Field

呼吸器内科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本邦において増加の一途にあるアレルギー疾患の診断・治療のためには疾患特異的なマーカーの発見が急務である。今回我々は原因不明のアレルギー疾患である慢性好酸球性肺炎の疾患マーカーの候補として好酸球に対する自己抗体に注目し、血液中の自己抗体の検出を試みた。現状では疾患特異的自己抗体の特定に至っていないが、ヒト好酸球性白血病細胞株であるAML14.3D10を用いた自己抗体検出法を確立できた。この手法により今後疾患特異的な自己抗体が同定されれば、慢性好酸球性肺炎を含めたアレルギー疾患の病態解明につながる可能性があると考えている。