Butterfield, J.H.

Abstract IL-3, a pleiotropic lymphokine, has been termed mast cell growth factor because it promotes growth and differentiation of murine mast cells. Murine mast cells, in turn, express cell surface receptors for IL-3. Human rIL-3 has been shown to induce proliferation and differentiation of human basophils and to activate basophils via high affinity binding sites. To investigate whether human mast cells express IL-3R, binding studies with 125I-radiolabeled human rIL-3 were performed on HMC-1, a novel human mast cell line, and on pure populations (i.e., 93 to 99% purity) of human tissue mast cells obtained with mAb and C from dispersed lung (n = 2). Unexpectedly, neither enriched human lung mast cells nor HMC-1 cells bound radiolabeled human rIL-3 specifically. Moreover, human rIL-3 failed to promote uptake of [3H]thymidine, synthesis of histamine, histamine releasability, or changes in expression of mast cell differentiation Ag (YB5B8, CD54/ICAM-1, CD9/p24, CD33/gp67) on either human lung mast cells or HMC-1 cells. It is hypothesized that the fundamental difference in the biologic response to IL-3 between human and murine mast cells is due to a loss during evolution of mast cell high affinity IL-3 binding sites.

Abstract The mast cell is one of the major effector cells in inflammatory reactions and can be found in most tissues throughout the body. During inflammation, an increase in the number of mast cells can be seen, e.g., in the intraepithelial cell layer after a provoked allergic reaction. Such accumulation probably requires directed migration of mature mast cells or their precursors. To study the migration of human mast cells we used as a model the human mast cell line, HMC-1, and stem cell factor-dependent (also referred to as mast cell growth factor or Kit ligand) cord blood-derived mast cells. The results show that stem cell factor is a potent chemotactic factor for human mast cells in vitro. The chemotactic response to SCF was found to be dose dependent, reaching a maximum at 50 ng/ml. The activity of SCF could be blocked by anti-SCF Abs. We also tested the effect of different intercrines, i.e., IL-8, MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, RANTES, and MCAF (also referred to as monocyte chemotactic protein 1), on human mast cell migration. Only RANTES was chemotactic for in vitro-developed mast cells. None of the tested intercrines induced migration of HMC-1 cells. For migration, the mast cells were dependent on binding to an extracellular matrix protein. Thus, coating of the filters with fibronectin was required, whereas collagen or laminin did not promote migration. Adhesion of HMC-1 cells to fibronectin could also be shown in an adhesion assay. In addition, expression of receptors for fibronectin could be detected on the surface of the mast cells. These results show that SCF is not only a growth and differentiation factor for human mast cells in vitro but also a potent chemoattractant for such cells.

Abstract Modulation of expression of the c-kit proto-oncogene product, the receptor for the recently identified stem cell factor, was studied on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-stimulated cultures of CD34+ normal bone marrow progenitor cells, blast cells from patients with primary acute myelogenous leukemia, cells from the leukemia cell lines HEL and MO7E, as well as cultured HMC-1 mast cells. Expression of c-kit was assessed on both RNA and protein level employing standard Northern blotting, reverse transcription, and polymerase chain reaction-based Southern blotting, as well as cell surface labeling with anti-c-kit mAb YB5.B8. Treatment of virtually all cell types with nontoxic concentrations of TPA (10(-9) M) for at least 48 h was associated with down-regulation of synthesis of c-kit transcripts and stem cell factor-receptor surface expression. Studies on the mechanism of action of TPA utilizing the HEL erythroleukemia line showed that TPA was primarily acting by accelerating the turnover of c-kit RNA most likely through induction of a destabilizing protein. The effect of TPA on c-kit expression levels was independent of TPA-mediated induction of differentiation since other compounds including IFN-gamma, vitamin D3, retinoic acid, arabinofuranosylcytosine, butyric acid, and camptothecin, which also effectively induced differentiation of HEL cells, failed to alter levels of c-kit expression.