STANDARD VALUES OF EOSINOPHIL-RELATED PARAMETERS FOR DATA COMPARISON

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Eosinophils are immune cells that develop in the bone marrow in response to interleukins-3, -5 (IL-3, IL-5) and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Mature eosinophils migrate to the gut and are involved in parasitic immunity, especially to helminthes. Eosinophils are also associated with many allergic diseases including asthma, atopic dermatitis, drug reactions and chronic urticaria. Eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal diseases include eosinophilic esophagitis, eosinophilic gastroenteritis and collagenous colitis. The hypereosinophilic syndrome includes patients with marked increases in eosinophils. The eosinophil is also involved in diseases caused by adulterated food products such as eosinophilia myalgia syndrome and toxic oil syndrome. Glucocorticoids have been used as a treatment for many of these diseases; however, long-term steroid usage causes significant side effects. Values for such assays can only be placed in meaningful context with comparison against normal patient values. Because of inter-laboratory variations in equipment, technique, and reagents, literature values will usually not suffice. It is necessary for each laboratory to establish normal values for the assays. Further, normal patient samples should be frequently run alongside study participant samples, in order to confirm that the equipment remains calibrated and technique unchanged. The objective of this project is to verify that equipment is consistently calibrated and working, as well as to obtain a range of normal values against which to compare patient samples for a number of present and future studies.