Basophils play a pivotal role in regulating chronic allergic inflammation as well as angiogenesis. Here, we show for the first time that IgE-mediated activation of primary human basophils results in protein accumulation of the a-subunit of hypoxia-inducible factor 1a (HIF-1a), which is differentially regulated compared with signals controlling histamine release. HIF-1 facilitates cellular adaptation to hypoxic conditions such as inflammation and tumour growth by controlling glycolysis, angiogenesis and cell adhesion. ERK and p38 MAPK, but not reactive oxygen species (ROS), ASK1 or PI 3-kinase, were critical for IgEmediated accumulation of HIF-1a, although the latter crucially affected degranulation. Abrogating HIF-1a expression in basophils using siRNA demonstrated that this protein is essential for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA expression and, consequently, release of VEGF protein. In addition, HIF-1a protein alters IgE-induced ATP depletion in basophils, thus also supporting the production of the pro-allergic cytokine IL-4.Key words: Allergology . Molecular immunology . Signal transduction Introduction Basophils are comparatively rare granulocytes in the blood, which have multiple functions and migrate into organs affected by allergic inflammation and certain parasitic as well as autoimmune diseases [1]. In recent years there is increasing evidence suggesting that basophils are essential in orchestrating chronic allergic inflammation (reviewed in [2]). Although basophil numbers are low compared with mast cells, they are several orders of magnitude more sensitive to IgE-mediated activation than mast cells and are the main allergic effector cells capable of rapidly generating Th2-type cytokines in humans [3][4][5]. Furthermore, numerous studies have demonstrated that basophils migrate from the blood into various tissues affected by allergic inflammation (reviewed in [1] and [2]) where they are the principle IL-4-generating cells in developing late-phase responses [6]. By virtue of their ability to release histamine, leukotriene C 4 and Th2-type cytokines (e.g. IL-4) following allergen-mediated aggregation of high-affinity IgE receptors (FceRI), basophils potentially play an important pro-inflammatory and immunomodulatory role in allergy (reviewed in [2]). Furthermore, recent studies clearly implicate basophils in crucially regulating chronic allergic inflammation [7] and Th2-immunity [8]. Additionally, these cells were also found to play an important role in angiogenesis due to their ability to generate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) [9].The activities of various intracellular signals involved in controlling both the synthesis and the secretion of these different mediator types from basophils lead to considerable demands in ATP generation (required in the phosphorylation of kinases). One possible mechanism that would explain the ability of basophils to contend with an increased demand in ATP, without undergoing cell death, as well as being able to produce VEGF, is due to the actions o...