Allergy in the 21st Century: New Answers to Old Questions
23rd Symposium of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum
May 18-23, 2000, Hakone, Japan
Editors: Takeru Ishikawa, Kumamoto; Terumasa Miyamoto, Tokyo; Hirokazu Okudaira, Tokyo; Hisao Tomioka, Chiba; Rudolf Valenta, Vienna; Dietrich Kraft, Vienna

Eosinophils, Monocytes and Macrophages

Clinical and Immunological Features of Patients with Interleukin-5-Producing T Cell Clones and Eosinophilia
Hans-Uwe Simon^a, Sabine Gisela Plötz^b, Dagmar Simon^c, Reinhard Dummer^d, Kurt Blaser<sup>e

a</sup>Department of Pharmacology, University of Bern, Switzerland;
^bDivision of Environmental Dermatology and Allergy GSF/Technical University of Munich, Germany;
^cDepartment of Dermatology, University of Bern,
^dDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zürich, and
^eSwiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zürich, Davos, Switzerland

Address of Corresponding Author

Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2001;124:242-245 (DOI: 10.1159/000053723)

  Key Words

• Clonal T cells
• Eosinophils
• Hypereosinophilia
• Immunophenotype
• Interleukin-5

  Abstract

Recent work suggests that in some patients with the hypereosinophilic syndrome, a clone of abnormal T cells produces large amounts of interleukin-5. In this study, we examined 60 patients with idiopathic eosinophilia. Sixteen patients had circulating T cells with an aberrant immunophenotype that, in most cases, were associated with different forms of skin inflammation. The abnormal T cells produced large amounts of interleukin-5, which may have increased eosinophil differentiation in the bone marrow of these patients.

Copyright © 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Correspondence to: Prof Hans-Uwe Simon
Department of Pharmacology, University of Bern
Friedbühlstrasse 49
CH-3010 Bern (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 31 632 32 81, Fax +41 31 632 49 92, E-Mail hus@pki.unibe.ch

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 4
Number of Figures : 3, Number of Tables : 1, Number of References : 6