The eosinophil enigma.

The Journal of clinical investigation ·Vol. 113 ·No. 4 ·2004-02-00 ·Pages 507-9

Williams TJ

Abstract

Eosinophils accumulate in high numbers in the lungs of asthmatic patients. These cells have the ability to induce tissue damage, a capacity that relates to their traditional role in host defense against parasitic worms. On the other hand, eosinophils produce growth factors associated with tissue repair and remodeling, notably TGF-beta1. The relationship of these activities to lung dysfunction in asthma is highly controversial, but recent observations in humans and in animal models add spice to the debate.

MeSH Terms

Animals Asthma/immunology,physiopathology Eosinophils/immunology,metabolism Humans Interleukin-5/immunology,metabolism Transforming Growth Factor beta/metabolism Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Chemicals

Interleukin-5 TGFB1 protein, human Transforming Growth Factor beta Transforming Growth Factor beta1

Authors & Affiliations

1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Williams Timothy J

Biomedical Sciences Division, School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. tim.williams@imperial.ac.uk

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18 references, click to expand

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Article Info

Journal

The Journal of clinical investigation

Abbr.

J Clin Invest

ISSN

0021-9738

DOI

10.1172/JCI21073

tim.williams@imperial.ac.uk

Published

2004-02-00

Pages

507-9

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

7802877

PMCID

PMC338272

Subset

Corrections

CommentOn

PMID: 14966564

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1172/JCI21073 PMC Full Text View journal details

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