Parallel regulation of IL-4 and IL-5 in human helminth infections

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between cytokine production and the increased levels of serum IgE and peripheral eosinophilia commonly accompanying human helminth infections, we studied the ability of PBMC of normal (N1) (n=18) and eosinophilic individuals with helminth infections (H1) (n=9) to produce IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, granulocyte-macrophage-CSF, and IFN-γ in vitro after stimulation with PMA (50 ng/ml) and ionomycin (1 μg/ml). The two groups differed in both the levels of serum IgE and eosinophilia. For mitogen-induced production of granulocyte-macrophage-CSF and IFN-γ, there was no difference in cytokine production between the two groups. In marked contrast, supernatants from PBMC of infec..