Abstract

Basophils, the rarest granulocytes, were identified by Paul Ehrlich more than 140 years ago, much earlier than the discovery of T and B cells. Unfortunately, basophils were often mixed up with tissue-resident mast cells because of some phenotypic similarities between them and considered erroneously as minor relatives or blood-circulating precursors of mast cells. Moreover, basophil research was hindered by the rarity of basophils and the paucity of useful analytical tools, and therefore basophils had often been neglected in immunological studies. A series of studies using newly developed tools, including basophil-depleting antibodies and genetically engineered mice deficient only in basophils, have clearly defined previously unrecognized roles of basophils, that are distinct from those played by tissue-resident mast cells. In this mini-review, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of basophil functions, particularly focusing on their roles in the regulation of innate and acquired immunity, allergic reactions, autoimmunity and protective immunity against parasitic infections, mainly based on animal studies. Further studies on human basophils would facilitate the development of new strategies for the treatment of basophil-associated disorders.

中文翻译：

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嗜碱性粒细胞，免疫系统中被忽视的少数，终于成为众人瞩目的焦点

摘要

嗜碱性粒细胞是最稀有的粒细胞，140 多年前由 Paul Ehrlich 发现，比发现 T 细胞和 B 细胞要早得多。不幸的是，嗜碱性粒细胞经常与组织驻留的肥大细胞混在一起，因为它们之间存在一些表型相似性，并被错误地视为肥大细胞的次要亲属或血液循环前体。此外，嗜碱性粒细胞的稀有性和有用的分析工具的缺乏阻碍了嗜碱性粒细胞的研究，因此嗜碱性粒细胞在免疫学研究中经常被忽视。使用新开发的工具进行的一系列研究，包括嗜碱性粒细胞消耗抗体和仅缺乏嗜碱性粒细胞的基因工程小鼠，已经清楚地定义了嗜碱性粒细胞以前未被认识的作用，这些作用不同于组织驻留的肥大细胞所起的作用。在这个迷你评论中，我们强调了我们对嗜碱性粒细胞功能理解的最新进展，特别关注它们在调节先天和获得性免疫、过敏反应、自身免疫和针对寄生虫感染的保护性免疫中的作用，主要基于动物研究。对人类嗜碱性粒细胞的进一步研究将有助于开发治疗嗜碱性粒细胞相关疾病的新策略。