Interleukin 5 signals through Shc and Grb2 in human eosinophils

Eosinophils are potent effector cells contributing to allergic inflammation and asthma. The differentiation, recruitment, and effector functions of eosinophils are greatly affected by interleukin (IL)-5. In the eosinophil, signal transduction pathways including Jak-STAT and Ras-Raf-MAP kinase are stimulated by IL-5 and enzymatic activation of tyrosine kinases Jak-2 and Lyn has been demonstrated. The participation of adapter proteins in the responses of the Ras-Raf-MAP kinase pathway has been documented in many cytokine family receptors but the expression and activation of these proteins have not been demonstrated in eosinophils. In these studies, we have found three isoforms of the adapter protein, Shc, to be expressed in eosinophils. One of these isoforms, p52 Shc, was tyrosine phosphorylated following IL-5 treatment of eosinophils. A second adapter protein, Grb2, coimmunoprecipitated with Shc following IL-5 stimulation of eosinophils. Furthermore, p52 Shc was increasingly associated with a cell fraction resistant to detergent solubilization, following IL-5 administration. This cell fraction of limited detergent solubility is a complex mixture of proteins and the adapter protein Grb2, the tyrosine kinases Jak-2 and Lyn, the nucleotide exchange factor Vav, and the serine-threonine kinases p45 MAP kinase, Raf-1, and PKCbeta, were distributed either wholly or partially in the same fraction, as were the cytoskeletal proteins actin and vimentin. Only p52 Shc, however, demonstrated discernibly increased association with this fraction following IL-5 stimulation of eosinophils. These data suggest that IL-5 activates a signal transduction pathway utilizing the adapter proteins Shc and Grb2 in the human eosinophil.