Haemopoietic growth factors induce human basophil migration in vitro

Abstract

Accumulation of basophils in inflammatory sites is an important aspect of the late-phase allergic reaction involving skin and upper and lower airways, suggesting the existence of mechanisms for basophil migration. Because haemopoietic growth factors have been shown to stimulate various functions of human basophils, we tested the ability of haemopoietic growth factors to migrate basophils in vitro. Both IL-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) induced migration of purified normal basophils (purity c. 80%) in a dose-dependent fashion at picomolar concentrations, while granulocyte (G)-CSF, macrophage (M)-CSF, and IL-4 had no effect at all. Chequerboard analyses indicate that migratory activity of both factors are chemokinetic. These results suggest that local production of both factors during allergic reactions might potentially play an initial role in the recruitment of basophils from the circulation to sites of inflammatory reactions.

Transendothelial Migration of Human Basophils

“…Furthermore, our earlier study using Boyden chamber systems demonstrated that IL-3 potently enhances in vitro locomotive responses by basophils (11). The migratory response induced by IL-3 was chemokinetic rather than chemotactic.…”

“…We and others have demonstrated that IL-3 represents the most potent basophil-activating cytokine and stimulates various aspects of basophil functions, including mediator release (21,22), survival (23,24), motility (11), adhesiveness to the endothelium (14), and expression of activation markers (14). Our present finding that IL-3 potentiated basophil TEM broadens the current concept of the capacity of IL-3 to modulate allergic inflammatory responses by up-regulating basophil functions.…”

“…Basophil-activating cytokines such as IL-3 are capable of up-regulating the expression of ␤ 2 integrins (CD11b and CD18), thereby potentiating the ␤ 2 integrin-mediated adherence of basophils to the endothelium (14). These basophil-activating cytokines also enhance basophil locomotive responses by inducing random movement (chemokinesis) (11). Regarding the basophil migration process, however, basophil-directed chemokines such as eotaxin play more critical roles by virtue of inducing strong directional movement (chemotaxis) (15,16).…”

Interleukin‐3, but not granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor and interleukin‐5, inhibits apoptosis of human basophils through phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase: requirement of NF‐κB‐dependent and ‐independent pathways

“…It has been reported that normal human basophils possess functional receptors for IL-3, 26,27 and IL-3 exhibits diverse effects on human basophils, including development, 28 differentiation, 29 migration, 30 histamine release 31 and augmentation of cytokine generation, 5 but there is a paucity of data regarding its effect on basophil apoptosis. In 1992, Yamaguchi and colleagues demonstrated that IL-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) maintained the numbers of viable basophils in vitro, as determined by Trypan blue exclusion.…”

Interleukin-3 Promotes the Expression of E-NPP3/CD203C on Human Blood Basophils in Healthy Subjects and in Patients with Birch Pollen Allergy

“…In addition, some of these cytokines directly induce mediator-secretion from basophils in allergic individuals (15)(16). Furthermore, such cytokines can promote differentiation, adhesion and migration in basophils (17)(18)(19)(20).…”