RELEASE OF GRANULE PROTEINS BY EOSINOPHILS FROM ALLERGIC AND NONALLERGIC PATIENTS WITH EOSINOPHILIA ON IMMUNOGLOBULIN-DEPENDENT ACTIVATION

The release of eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) was evaluated after incubation of eosinophils (EOSs) from allergic subjects with the specific allergen or with anti-IgE monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). High levels of EPO could be released after addition of the specific allergen (and not unrelated ones) or anti-IgE MAb. Moreover, EPO release with the two stimuli was significantly correlated both in allergic and in nonallergic patients. In the same supernatants, another granule protein, ECP, could not be detected, suggesting a lack of correlation between EPO and ECP release after IgE-dependent stimulation. However, when EOSs with surface-IgA antibodies were incubated with anti-IgA MAb, both EPO and ECP were released. In contrast, incubation of EOSs with anti-IgG MAb induced mainly the release of ECP and not EPO. These results indicate that pharmacologically active mediators can be released by EOSs from allergic and nonallergic patients on immunoglobulin-dependent activation. The results also confirm the hypothesis of a selective release of the various granule proteins and raise the question of transduction signals delivered by the three Fc receptors (Fc-epsilon-R, FC-alpha-R, and FC-gamma-R) present on human EOSs.