Bacterial Activation of Mast Cells
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2006
Description
Mast cells often are found in a perivascular location but especially in mucosae, where they may response to various stimuli. They typically associate with immediate hypersensitive responses and are likely to play a critical role in host defense. In this chapter, a common airway pathogen, Moraxella catarrhalis, and a commensal bacterium, Neiserria cinerea, are used to illustrate activation of human mast cells. A human mast cell line (HMC-1) derived from a patient with mast cell leukemia was activated with varying concentrations of heat-killed bacteria. Active aggregation of bacteria over mast cell surfaces was detected by scanning electron microscopy. The activation of mast cells was analyzed by nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation and cytokine production in culture supernatants. Both M. catarrhalis and N. cinerea induce mast cell activation and the secretion of two key inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 and MCP-1. This is accompanied by NF-kappaB activation. Direct bacterial contact with mast cells appears to be essential for this activation because neither cell-free bacterial supernatants nor bacterial lipopolysaccharide induce cytokine secretion.
Citation Information
Chi, David; Walker, Elaine S.; Hossler, Fred E.; and Krishnaswamy, Guha. 2006. Bacterial Activation of Mast Cells. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). Vol.315 383-392. https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1385%2F1-59259-967-2%3A383 PMID: 16110171 ISSN: 1064-3745