Characterization of mast cell basophil haematopoesis in patients with asthma and drug allergies.

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The major emphasis of this investigation is to analyse blood for specific cells thought to be implicated in allergic disease from patients undergoing allergic reactions to medications and in patients with asthma and other allergies. Certain cells in the circulation of these patients are thought to be involved in the clinical manifestation seen in patients with asthma and other allergies. These cells have certain characteristics and for the first time our laboratory has identified a particular cell in the circulation of patients with asthma which we believe may be important in the pathogenesis of this condition. We propose to examine these cells in patients with asthma, those experiencing allergic reactions to drugs and other allergies and determine their characteristics and their growth responses to a number of growth factors which have been demonstrated to affect the growth of cells known as mast cells in the test tube. Once we have characterised these cells in terms of what particular proteins and other products they contain we will then try to correlate the number and type of cell with the clinical allergic state of the patient. Blood will be obtained from patients undergoing acute asthma and those in remission to determine if there is any specific relationship of these cells with acute allergic reactions. We will be also looking at how these cells regulate other physiological systems in the body, in particular possible explanations why patients that suffer acute allergic reactions develop significant drops in blood pressure. We can identify these cells with a specific antibody that we have used in our preliminary studies. This antibody binds the surface of these cells, however the specific protein to which this antibody binds has not been identified. We propose to identify this protein by using molecular biology techniques. These studies will provide us with important insights on the nature of these cells and may lead to new therapies.