The human eosinophil has long been thought to favorably influence innate mucosal immunity but at times has also been incriminated in disease pathophysiology. Research into eosinophil biology has uncovered a number of interesting contributions by eosinophils to health and disease. However, it appears that not all eosinophils from all species are created equal. It remains unclear, for example, exactly how having eosinophils benefits the human host when helminth infections in the developed world have become scarce. This review focuses on our current state of knowledge as it relates to human eosinophils. When information is lacking, we discuss lessons learned from mouse studies that may or may not directly apply to human biology and disease. It is an exciting time to be an "eosinophilosopher" because the use of biologic agents that selectively target eosinophils provides an unprecedented opportunity to define the contribution of this cell to eosinophil-associated human diseases.

中文翻译：

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嗜酸性粒细胞对人类健康和疾病的贡献。


长期以来，人们一直认为人类嗜酸性粒细胞对先天粘膜免疫有积极影响，但有时也与疾病病理生理学有关。对嗜酸性粒细胞生物学的研究发现了嗜酸性粒细胞对健康和疾病的许多有趣的贡献。然而，似乎并非所有物种的所有嗜酸性粒细胞都是一样的。例如，当发达国家的蠕虫感染变得稀少时，目前尚不清楚嗜酸性粒细胞究竟如何使人类宿主受益。本综述重点关注我们目前对人类嗜酸性粒细胞的了解。当信息缺乏时，我们会讨论从小鼠研究中吸取的经验教训，这些经验教训可能直接适用于人类生物学和疾病，也可能不直接适用。对于成为一名“嗜酸性粒细胞哲学家”来说，这是一个激动人心的时刻，因为选择性靶向嗜酸性粒细胞的生物制剂的使用提供了前所未有的机会来确定该细胞对嗜酸性粒细胞相关人类疾病的贡献。