Bone Marrow Function in Development of Childhood Asthma
Abstract
Asthma is the most common reason for hospitalization of children in both military and civilian hospitals. In children with asthma, pulmonary exposure to allergen results in damage to bronchioles by invasion of eosinophils. Eosinophils are inflammatory cells, have limited life spans, and must be continually renewed from hematopoietic tissue. We adapted an animal model of asthma to our laboratory for studies of the effect of pulmonary allergen exposure on eosinophil progenitor cells (CFU-eo) . These studies have revealed that CFU-eo numbers are elevated in the bone marrow of asthmatic mice following pulmonary allergen exposure. IL-5 is the primary cytokine that regulates eosinophil production and was originally thought to be synthesized exclusively by T lymphocytes. We demonstrated that fibroblastic bone marrow stromal cells produce IL-5 and that stromal cells regulate eosinophil production in vitro. Our working hypothesis is that eosinophil production in asthma is regulated by both bone marrow stromal cells and T lymphocytes. The primary objective of this proposal is to determine the relative role of stromal cells and T lymphocytes. The primary objective of this proposal is to determine the relative role of stromal cells and T lymphocytes in normal and asthmatic eosinophil production. In addition, the effect of inflammatory mediators on stromal cell support of eosinophilopoiesis and the durability of these responses will also be investigated.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA423965
Entities
People
- Mary B. Hogan
Organizations
- West Virginia University