Commentary: Mutual interaction of basophils and T cells in chronic inflammatory diseases

Citation: Chirumbolo S (2016) Commentary: Mutual interaction of basophils and T cells in chronic inflammatory diseases. A commentary on Mutual interaction of basophils and T cells in chronic inflammatory diseases Sarfati et al. recently published a thorough overview on the role exerted by basophils in the immune system and their relationship with T cells in chronic inflammation (1). In their paper, the authors fundamentally referred to the relationship with T cells, and basophil participation in innate and acquired immunity, through the complex network of immune cells and cytokines. Many further, though less appealing, mediators should be introduced, yet. The paper by Sarfati et al. contains interesting bullet points on the biology of basophils, which deserve further insights and raise also some concern about the use and meaning of these cells in immunology laboratory (2). Allergy tests usually consider basophils as independent leukocytes able to elicit or regulate a typical type I hypersensitivity reaction, most commonly reported as an allergic response. Therefore, in this perspective, basophils are investigated fundamentally by the membrane recycling and up-or downregulation of IgE-induced surface displaced molecules, which undergo a turn over mechanism due to the basophil-mediated immune response. Actually, these cells play a pivotal role in the immune system and even their use in allergy diagnosis should be reappraised (3, 4). This would mean that basophils need to be treated not only as isolated cells responding to allergens but also as innate T-cells, quite neglecting their close interaction with other immune cells such as T-cells, platelets or other leukocytes. Yet, basophils appear to interact with a wide group of immune cells, either from innate or acquired immunity, particularly in chronic inflammation. In this scenario, lipid-derived molecules might play a major role also for basophils. During allergy, leukocytes produce many mediators, some of which of recent interest, such as 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE) (5). This endogenous eicosanoid can interact with basophils, which possess receptors for 15-HETE (6) or bind to intracellular non G-coupled receptors such as PPAR-γ, which is expressed also in basophils (7). Aside from the overview described by the authors, this issue may be important during chronic allergic inflammation. Recent reports have shown that the activity of 15-lipooxygenase type 1 (15-LO-1) is fundamental in causing pathophysi-ology of asthma. During an inflammatory or physical injury, human airway epithelial cells increase their 15-LO-1 activity and the production of 15-HETE, besides the production of eoxin C4 (EXC4) or 14,15-leukotriene …