Abstract
Background: Eotaxin/CCL11 plays an important role in asthma. It acts through the chemokine receptor CCR3 expressed on hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells in the lung. Objective: To determine whether eotaxin/CCL11 modulates lung and bronchial fibroblast properties and thereby might contribute to airway remodeling. Methods: CCR3 expression was characterized on a lung fibroblast line (MRC-5; flow cytometry, fluorescent microscopy, RT-PCR, and Northern blotting), on primary bronchial fibroblasts (flow cytometry), and on fibroblasts in human lung tissue (confocal laser microscopy). The effects of eotaxin/CCL11 on lung fibroblast migration (Boyden chamber), proliferation (tritiated thymidine incorporation), α-smooth muscle actin expression (ELISA), 3-dimensional collagen gel contraction (floating gel), pro-α1(I) collagen mRNA (Northern blotting), total collagen synthesis (tritiated proline incorporation), matrix metalloproteinase activity (gelatin zymography), and TGF-β1 release (ELISA) were evaluated. The contribution of eotaxin/CCL11/CCR3 binding on lung fibroblasts was also investigated by neutralizing experiments. Results: CCR3 is constitutively expressed in cultured lung and primary bronchial fibroblasts and colocalizes with specific surface markers for human fibroblasts in lung tissue. Eotaxin/CCL11 selectively modulates fibroblast activities by increasing their proliferation, matrix metalloproteinase 2 activity, and collagen synthesis but not their differentiation into myofibroblasts, contractility in collagen gel, or TGF-β1 release. Eotaxin/CCL11 enhances migration of lung fibroblasts in response to nonspecific chemoattractants, and this effect is completely inhibited by anti-CCR3-neutralizing antibodies. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that eotaxin/CCL11 has a direct and selective profibrogenic effect on lung and bronchial fibroblasts, providing a novel mechanism whereby eotaxin/CCL11 can participate in airway remodeling in asthma.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 103-110 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
Volume | 117 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Supported by a grant from the Aimwell Charitable Trust (FLS), the Israel Ministry of Health (NB), and the Israel Lung Association Tel Aviv (NB).
Keywords
- Airway remodeling
- Asthma
- CC chemokine
- CCR3
- Eotaxin/CCL11
- Fibroblast
- Myofibroblast
- α-smooth muscle actin