ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the evidence indicating that mast cells or eosinophils can produce multifunctional cytokines and that such molecules may represent important mediators in biological responses associated with the activation of these cells. These include detailed consideration of the natural history of mast cells or eosinophils or the role of multifunctional cytokines in regulating mast cell, basophil, or eosinophil proliferation, maturation, phenotype or function. The first cytokine bioactivity to be clearly associated with normal mast cells was tumor necrosis factor-alpha/cachectin. Several groups demonstrated that in vitro-derived, interleukin-3-dependent mouse mast cells, rat basophilic leukemia cells, or freshly isolated mouse or rat peritoneal mast cells expressed cytolytic activity against certain cellular targets, and some examples of this mast-cell-dependent cytotoxicity exhibited partial inhibition by antibodies to tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Mast-cell-derived tumor necrosis factor-alpha may also contribute to late-phase reactions expressed in human lung.
