Evaluation of the correlation and reproducibility between histamine, IL-4, and IL-13 release from human basophils

Human basophils play a key role in allergic diseases such as asthma and in a variety of immunological disorders. The generation of IL-4 and IL-13 can be induced from basophil by IgE-mediated and non-IgE-mediated mechanisms. Time and stimulus-dependent differences in the regulation of these cytokines could have relevance to their biological effects. The aim of the present study was activation of basophils in order to evaluate the extent of histamine, IL-4, and IL-13 generations. Basophil-enriched suspensions were prepared by Percoll gradients. The release of histamine and cytokines was assessed after activation with either anti-human IgE (1/1000 or 1/10000, 4 h or 24 h) or IL-3 (100 ng/ ml, 24 h). Results were analysed statistically, using ANOVA test. Using anti-IgE, there was no significant correlation between the extent of either IL-4 (r=0.24, p=0.35) or IL-13 (r=0.47, p=0.098) and histamine release. Using IL-3 as stimulator, results showed that the extent of IL-13 correlated with histamine release(r=0.44, p=0.036). There was no correlation between the extent of IL-4 and the degree of either histamine (r=0.077, p=0.72) or IL-13 (r=0.162, p=0.5). The reproducibility of cytokines isolated from the same donor (on different occasions) indicated that the ability of anti-IgE to induce cytokines was consistently similar for a given donor. Our data showed that the pathways leading to IL-3-triggering histamine release and IL-13 generation show similarity. Donor-dependent differences may be responsible for this wide range in the extent of releasibility. The ability of IL-3 to release cytokines from basophils showed a wider range.