Background: RANTES has been shown to possess chemotactic activity for eosinophils, which have also been considered to play a role in allergic inflammation through reactive oxygen species. Thus, in this study, we examined the effect of RANTES on radical oxygen products from eosinophils.
Methods: Purified eosinophils by CD16-negative selection or an eosinophilic cell line (EoL-1) were incubated with or without RANTES (2.5 x 10(-6) M). To the mixture of eosinophils and luminol, calcium ionophore (A23187) or opsonized zymosan (OZ) was added, and radical oxygen products were determined by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence for 600 s.
Results: Eosinophil-mediated radical oxygen products of untreated eosinophils produced with A23187 gave a peak value of 14.09 +/- 2.40 (mean +/- SE, n = 12) relative light units (RLU) and an integrated value of 3232.20 +/- 513.09 RLU. However, with treatment with RANTES, a peak value of 18.66 +/- 2.40 RLU and an integrated value of 5301.05 +/- 561.02 RLU were obtained. Eosinophil oxidative metabolism-induced A23187 or OZ was apparently augmented by the preincubation with RANTES. In addition, the radical oxygen products of EoL-1 showed similar results.
Conclusions: Thus, we concluded that RANTES may play an important role in the pathogenesis of allergic inflammation through its involvement in eosinophil activation, as evidenced by oxygen products, as well as in selective eosinophil infiltration as selective eosinophil chemoattractant.