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Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 176, 1381-1386, Copyright © 1992 by Rockefeller University Press
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P Bradding, IH Feather, PH Howarth, R Mueller, JA Roberts, K Britten, JP Bews, TC Hunt, Y Okayama and CH Heusser
Immunopharmacology Group, Medicine I, Southampton General Hospital, United Kingdom.
Recent attention has focused on the T helper type 2 (Th2) lymphocyte as a source of interleukin 4 (IL-4) in allergic disease. However, Th2 cells themselves require a pulse of IL-4 to initiate this synthesis. Here we provide immunohistochemical evidence of IL-4 localization to human mast cells of the skin and respiratory tract, and demonstrate that immunoglobulin E-dependent stimulation of purified human lung mast cells leads to the rapid release of IL-4 into the extracellular environment. We propose that mast cell activation in an allergic response provides a rapid and local pulse of IL-4 into the local environment essential for the triggering of T lymphocytes into sustained IL-4 production and to initiate inflammatory cell accumulation and activation.
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