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Observations of increased numbers of mast cells at sites of chronic inflammation have been reported for over a hundred years. Light and electron microscopic evidence of mast cell activation at such sites, taken together with the known functions of the diverse mediators, cytokines, and growth factors that can be secreted by appropriately activated mast cells, have suggested a wide range of possible functions for mast cells in promoting (or suppressing) many features of chronic inflammation. Similarly, these and other lines of evidence have implicated mast cells in a variety of adaptive or pathological responses that are associated with persistent inflammation at the affected sites. Definitively characterizing the importance of mast cells in chronic inflammation in humans is difficult. However, mice that genetically lack mast cells, especially those which can undergo engraftment with wildtype or genetically altered mast cells, provide a means to investigate the importance of mast cells and specific mast cell functions or products in diverse models of chronic inflammation. Such work has confirmed that mast cells can significantly influence multiple features of chronic inflammatory responses, through diverse effects that can either promote or, perhaps more surprisingly, suppress aspects of these responses.

Summary Background Mast cells are responsible for eliciting the early phase and for contributing to the development of the late phase of allergic reactions, through the release of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators. Objective To assess whether the glucocorticoid dexamethasone has a direct effect on mast cell progenitor maturation and on mature cord blood-derived mast cell properties. Methods Mast cells were obtained by culturing human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells with stem cell factor, IL-6 and prostaglandin E2. Mast cell numbers were assessed by Toluidine Blue staining and immunocytochemistry of tryptase positive cells. The expression of FceRI, CD49d and c-kit was assessed by flow cytometry. Histamine release was determined by a radioenzymatic assay. Cys-LT, GM-CSF and TNF-α production and release were determined by ELISA. Results Dexamethasone (10−6 M−10−9 M) time- and dose-dependently inhibited the maturation of the mast cell progenitors. Dexamethasone did not affect the basal expression of FceRI, CD49d and c-kit, but it inhibited the IgE-dependent enhanced expression of FceRI. Dexamethasone (10−6 M−10−9 M) had no significant effect on FceRI-dependent histamine release or the synthesis and release of Cys-LT from the mature mast cells. However, pre-incubation of the mast cell cultures with dexamethasone for 1 h, prior to cross-linking of FceRI, dose-dependently inhibited the production and secretion of both GM-CSF and TNF-α. Conclusions From these in vitro data we propose that glucocorticosteroids are effective drugs in the management of allergic inflammation due to their capacity to inhibit mast cell development, IgE-dependent FceRI expression and mast cell production of GM-CSF and TNF-α.

Mast cells are tissue dwelling cells that have a clear-cut pathologic role in allergy. Besides that, they participate in several chronic inflammatory conditions, helminitic parasitosis, and in some solid tumor reactions, but also in physiological situations, such as wound healing and innate immunity. Mast cells produce and release various mediators after activation induced by either IgE-dependent or IgE-independent mechanisms. Although much information has been gathered on the immunological (IgE-dependent) mast cell activation both in vivo and in vitro, not much is known about the non-immunological (IgE-independent) activation particularly in human mast cells. Mast cell IgE-independent activation is mediated through Gi3alpha which has been identified in rat mast cells as the pertussis toxin (Ptx)-sensitive heterotrimeric G protein that interacts with cationic secretagogues inducing PLC-independent mast cell exocytosis. Mast cell IgE-independent activation in allergy most likely occurs when mast cells encounter eosinophils, the main inflammatory cells that persist throughout the late and chronic phases of the allergic reaction. This review summarizes the influence of eosinophils on mast cell activation demonstrating that IgE-independent activation has a significant role in pathophysiological processes.