Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1992 May 1;175(5):1271–1275. doi: 10.1084/jem.175.5.1271

Monocyte chemotactic protein 1 is a potent activator of human basophils

PMCID: PMC2119199  PMID: 1569397

Abstract

Cytokines belonging to the RANTES/SIS family are highly induced in a number of pathophysiological processes such as autoimmune disorders, cancers, atherosclerosis, and chronic inflammation. However, apart from their chemotactic activity on monocytes and particular lymphocyte types, the biological activities in the human system of this recently discovered cytokine family are largely unknown. Here we report that one family member, described as monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), strongly activates mature human basophils in a pertussis toxin- sensitive manner. MCP-1 causes a rise in the cytosolic free calcium level in basophils and monocytes, but not in other blood leukocyte types, and triggers basophil degranulation at low concentrations (ED50 = 3-10 nM). Thus, MCP-1 is a cytokine capable of directly inducing histamine release by basophils. Furthermore, MCP-1 promotes the formation of leukotriene C4 by basophils pretreated with interleukin 3 (IL-3), IL-5, or granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. MCP- 1-induced basophil mediator release may play an important role in allergic inflammation and other pathologies expressing MCP-1.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (439.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alam R., Forsythe P. A., Lett-Brown M. A., Grant J. A. Cellular origin of histamine-releasing factor produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells. J Immunol. 1989 Jun 1;142(11):3951–3956. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baeza M. L., Reddigari S., Haak-Frendscho M., Kaplan A. P. Purification and further characterization of human mononuclear cell histamine-releasing factor. J Clin Invest. 1989 Apr;83(4):1204–1210. doi: 10.1172/JCI114002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bischoff S. C., Baggiolini M., de Weck A. L., Dahinden C. A. Interleukin 8-inhibitor and inducer of histamine and leukotriene release in human basophils. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1991 Aug 30;179(1):628–633. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(91)91418-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bischoff S. C., Brunner T., De Weck A. L., Dahinden C. A. Interleukin 5 modifies histamine release and leukotriene generation by human basophils in response to diverse agonists. J Exp Med. 1990 Dec 1;172(6):1577–1582. doi: 10.1084/jem.172.6.1577. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bischoff S. C., de Weck A. L., Dahinden C. A. Interleukin 3 and granulocyte/macrophage-colony-stimulating factor render human basophils responsive to low concentrations of complement component C3a. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Sep;87(17):6813–6817. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.17.6813. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dahinden C. A., Kurimoto Y., De Weck A. L., Lindley I., Dewald B., Baggiolini M. The neutrophil-activating peptide NAF/NAP-1 induces histamine and leukotriene release by interleukin 3-primed basophils. J Exp Med. 1989 Nov 1;170(5):1787–1792. doi: 10.1084/jem.170.5.1787. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gerard N. P., Gerard C. The chemotactic receptor for human C5a anaphylatoxin. Nature. 1991 Feb 14;349(6310):614–617. doi: 10.1038/349614a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Graves D. T., Jiang Y. L., Williamson M. J., Valente A. J. Identification of monocyte chemotactic activity produced by malignant cells. Science. 1989 Sep 29;245(4925):1490–1493. doi: 10.1126/science.2781291. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Holmes W. E., Lee J., Kuang W. J., Rice G. C., Wood W. I. Structure and functional expression of a human interleukin-8 receptor. Science. 1991 Sep 13;253(5025):1278–1280. doi: 10.1126/science.1840701. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kurimoto Y., de Weck A. L., Dahinden C. A. Interleukin 3-dependent mediator release in basophils triggered by C5a. J Exp Med. 1989 Aug 1;170(2):467–479. doi: 10.1084/jem.170.2.467. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Leonard E. J., Yoshimura T. Human monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Immunol Today. 1990 Mar;11(3):97–101. doi: 10.1016/0167-5699(90)90035-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Matsushima K., Larsen C. G., DuBois G. C., Oppenheim J. J. Purification and characterization of a novel monocyte chemotactic and activating factor produced by a human myelomonocytic cell line. J Exp Med. 1989 Apr 1;169(4):1485–1490. doi: 10.1084/jem.169.4.1485. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Robinson E. A., Yoshimura T., Leonard E. J., Tanaka S., Griffin P. R., Shabanowitz J., Hunt D. F., Appella E. Complete amino acid sequence of a human monocyte chemoattractant, a putative mediator of cellular immune reactions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Mar;86(6):1850–1854. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.6.1850. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rollins B. J., Walz A., Baggiolini M. Recombinant human MCP-1/JE induces chemotaxis, calcium flux, and the respiratory burst in human monocytes. Blood. 1991 Aug 15;78(4):1112–1116. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Schall T. J., Bacon K., Toy K. J., Goeddel D. V. Selective attraction of monocytes and T lymphocytes of the memory phenotype by cytokine RANTES. Nature. 1990 Oct 18;347(6294):669–671. doi: 10.1038/347669a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schall T. J. Biology of the RANTES/SIS cytokine family. Cytokine. 1991 May;3(3):165–183. doi: 10.1016/1043-4666(91)90013-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Schleimer R. P., Fox C. C., Naclerio R. M., Plaut M., Creticos P. S., Togias A. G., Warner J. A., Kagey-Sobotka A., Lichtenstein L. M. Role of human basophils and mast cells in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1985 Aug;76(2 Pt 2):369–374. doi: 10.1016/0091-6749(85)90656-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Warner J. A., Yancey K. B., MacGlashan D. W., Jr The effect of pertussis toxin on mediator release from human basophils. J Immunol. 1987 Jul 1;139(1):161–165. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ylä-Herttuala S., Lipton B. A., Rosenfeld M. E., Särkioja T., Yoshimura T., Leonard E. J., Witztum J. L., Steinberg D. Expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 in macrophage-rich areas of human and rabbit atherosclerotic lesions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Jun 15;88(12):5252–5256. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.12.5252. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Yoshimura T., Leonard E. J. Identification of high affinity receptors for human monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 on human monocytes. J Immunol. 1990 Jul 1;145(1):292–297. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Yoshimura T., Robinson E. A., Tanaka S., Appella E., Kuratsu J., Leonard E. J. Purification and amino acid analysis of two human glioma-derived monocyte chemoattractants. J Exp Med. 1989 Apr 1;169(4):1449–1459. doi: 10.1084/jem.169.4.1449. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. von Tscharner V., Prod'hom B., Baggiolini M., Reuter H. Ion channels in human neutrophils activated by a rise in free cytosolic calcium concentration. 1986 Nov 27-Dec 3Nature. 324(6095):369–372. doi: 10.1038/324369a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES