chemokine receptors ͉ endothelium ͉ lung inflammation T he bronchial inflammation in atopic asthma and in allergeninduced mouse models of pulmonary inflammation is characterized by the influx of various effector cell populations including Th2 cells, eosinophils, basophils, and mast cells (MC). The MC numbers increase both in the smooth muscle and in the epithelium of the airways of humans with atopic asthma (1, 2). Moreover, there is marked hyperplasia of intraepithelial (IE) MC in mice with antigen-induced Th2-mediated inflammation of the airways, although normal mouse lung lacks appreciable numbers of MC (3, 4). That antigen-induced airways hyperreactivity is diminished in MC-deficient strains indicates the importance of the MC to the biology of the host response (3, 5).Recruitment of MC progenitors (MCp) to the lung of sensitized, aerosolized antigen-challenged BALB/c mice is rapid and depends on expression of ␣41 or ␣47 integrins because this response was blocked by mAb to these integrins, with the counterligand being vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) (6). Because transendothelial migration of cells into tissues characteristically involves not only adhesion but also directed migration, we turned our attention to possible chemokine receptors on the MCp. Using null mouse strains lacking CCR3, CCR5, or CXCR2, which are known to be expressed by cultured mouse bone marrow-derived MC (mBMMC) and/or by human cord blood-derived MC (7-9), we investigated the requirement for these receptors on MCp recruitment to antigensensitized and challenged mice. We find that MCp recruitment to the lung of sensitized, BALB/c mice after three daily aerosolized antigen challenges depends on CXCR2 function in the lung parenchyma/microvasculature rather than on the MCp with selectivity for the MCp relative to other mononuclear cells. The deficiency in CXCR2 is associated with a reduction in VCAM-1 expression in the lung and with a reduction in the subsequent appearance of mature mucosal MC in the trachea, suggesting that the recruitment is a prerequisite for the IE MC hyperplasia.
Results
Reduced MCp Recruitment to Lung of Sensitized and Antigen-Challenged CXCR2 ؊/؊ Mice. We demonstrated that MCp recruitment to the lung of ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized and aerosolized OVA-challenged BALB/c mice approaches a plateau after only three daily challenges (6). To evaluate any effect resulting from the loss of expression of a chemokine receptor, the numbers of mononuclear cells (MNC) and MCp in the lung of sensitized, antigen-challenged wild-type (WT) (BALB/c) and CXCR2-null mice were compared. Sensitized WT and CXCR2 Ϫ/Ϫ mice that were not challenged with aerosolized antigen show similar low levels of MNC and MCp in the lung as noted previously (Fig.