Mast Cells: Fascinating but Still Elusive after 140 Years from Their Discovery

摘要

Some of the basic characteristics of tissue mast cells were described over 140 years ago by Paul Ehrlich, the founder of modern immunology [ ]. At that time, the mast cells’ distinguishing feature was the affinity of their cytoplasmic granules for certain basic dyes. For several decades, mast cells and their mediators were essentially considered to play mainly a proinflammatory role in allergic disorders, such as bronchial asthma [ , , ], allergic rhinitis [ ], urticaria [ , ], food allergy [ , ], anaphylaxis [ , ], atopic dermatitis [ ], and angioedema [ ]. With the appreciation of these cells as major potential sources of a myriad of cytokines and chemokines, it became evident in the 1990s that mast cells may express immunoregulatory functions [ , ]. During the last decades, it was demonstrated that mast cells can also produce different proangiogenic [ , , ] and lymphangiogenic factors [ , ], suggesting that they may actually play a role in tumor initiation and growth [ , , , ]. Moreover, these cells can be activated by different viral [ , ] and bacterial proteins [ , ] and thereby represent a potentially important cell during microbial infections. Therefore, the spectrum of diseases in which mast cells and their mediators have been implicated has extended to include bacterial, fungal, viral, and helminth infections [ , , , ]; several diseases of the cardiovascular [ , , ] and gastrointestinal systems [ , , ]; and the joints [ , ]. schematically summarizes the wide spectrum of pathophysiological conditions in which mast cells and their mediators have been implicated during the last decades.