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Mouse Mast Cell Protease 4 Is the Major Chymase in Murine Airways and Has a Protective Role in Allergic Airway Inflammation¹

Ida Waern,^* Sofia Jonasson, Josephine Hjoberg, Anders Bucht, Magnus Åbrink,^¶ Gunnar Pejler,^* and Sara Wernersson^2*

^*Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Swedish Defense Research Agency, Umeå, Sweden; and ^¶Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

It is widely established that mast cells (MCs) have a harmful role in asthma, for example by secreting various proinflammatory substances stored within their secretory granule. However, in this study, we show that one of the substances stored within MC granule, chymase, in fact has a protective role in allergic airway inflammation, indicating that MCs may possess both harmful and protective activities in connection with this type of disease. Wild-type (WT) mice and mice lacking mouse MC protease 4 (mMCP-4), a chymase that is functionally homologous to human chymase, were sensitized and challenged with OVA, followed by the assessment of airway physiology and inflammatory parameters. Our results show that the airway hyperresponsiveness was significantly higher in mMCP-4^–/– as compared with WT mice. Moreover, the degree of lung tissue inflammation was markedly higher in mice lacking mMCP-4 than in WT controls. Histological analysis revealed that OVA sensitization/challenge resulted in a marked increased in the thickness of the smooth muscle cell (SMC) layer and, notably, that the degree of SMC layer thickening was more pronounced in mMCP-4^–/– animals than in WT controls, thus indicating that chymase may have an effect on airway SMCs. In support of this, mMCP-4-positive MCs were located in the close vicinity of the SMC layer, mainly in the upper airways, and mMCP-4 was shown to be the major chymase expressed in these MCs. Taken together, our results indicate that chymase present in the upper airways protects against allergic airway responses, possibly by regulating SMCs.

The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

¹ This work was supported by grants from the Vårdal Foundation, the Swedish Society of Medicine, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Foundation, Gustaf V:s 80-year Anniversary Foundation, and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.

² Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sara Wernersson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, BMC, Box 575, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail address: sara.wernersson{at}afb.slu.se

³ Abbreviations used in this paper: AHR, airway hyperresponsiveness; BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; CAE, chloroacetate esterase; C_L, lung compliance; CPA, carboxypeptidase A; FGF, fibroblast growth factor; i.n., intranasal; MC, mast cell; mMCP, mouse mast cell protease; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; R_L, lung resistance; SMC, smooth muscle cell; WT, wild type.

⁴ The online version of this article contains supplemental material.