Cell/Cytokine Interactions

Abstract

Cytokines provide an important local mechanism for inflammatory cells at sites of allergic inflammation to communicate with each other in orchestrating the inflammatory response. Cytokines regulate a number of cellular functions important to allergic inflammation, including the regulation of immunoglobulin E (IgE) synthesis, the regulation of the expression of adhesion molecules by endothelium, and the regulation of inflammatory cell function (1). Our understanding of the relative importance of individual cytokines to allergic inflammation has been advanced by the cloning of cytokines and cytokine receptors, the elucidation of the crystal structure of cytokines suggesting important ligand binding sites, and in vitro functional studies using recombinant cytokines and individual cell types important to allergic function (i.e., mast cells, eosinophils, T-cells, B-cells, endothelium, epithelium). We will review cell/cytokine interactions in the context of these studies, focusing particularly on cytokine interactions with eosinophils, as well as review important advances in understanding the in vivo role of individual cytokines in studies using cytokine transgenic mice (mice over-expressing a particular cytokine) (2) or cytokine knockout mice (mice deficient in a particular cytokine) (3) (Table 1).