Abstract
Mast cells (MCs) play critical roles in Th2 immune responses, including the defense against parasitic infections and the initiation of type I allergic reactions. In addition, MCs are involved in several immune-related responses, including those in bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, cancers, allograft rejections, and lifestyle diseases. Whereas antigen-specific IgE is a well-known activator of MCs, which express FcεRI on the cell surface, other receptors for cytokines, growth factors, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and damage-associated molecular patterns also function as triggers of MC stimulation, resulting in the release of chemical mediators, eicosanoids, and various cytokines. In this review, we focus on the role of interleukin (IL)-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, in MC-mediated immune responses, in which MCs play roles not only as initiators of the immune response but also as suppressors of excessive inflammation. IL-10 exhibits diverse effects on the proliferation, differentiation, survival, and activation of MCs in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, IL-10 derived from MCs exerts beneficial and detrimental effects on the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and in several immune-related diseases including contact hypersensitivity, auto-immune diseases, and infections. This review introduces the effects of IL-10 on various events in MCs, and the roles of MCs in IL-10-related immune responses and as a source of IL-10.
Highlights
Mast cells (MCs) were first discovered by Paul Ehrlich in 1878
A further detailed study demonstrated that apoptosis induced by a combination of IL-4 and IL-10 occurs in a p53-dependent manner, which is involved in mitochondrial dysfunction with a decreased potential of membrane activity caused by Bax, an apoptotic factor of mitochondria [48]
We focused on the roles of IL-10 in MC-related immune events and on
Summary
Mast cells (MCs) were first discovered by Paul Ehrlich in 1878. MCs were considered to play important roles in IgE-mediated immune responses, including the defense against parasitic infections and the initiation of type I allergic reactions. MCs were shown to function as initiators of the immune response, and to have critical roles in settling excessive inflammation by suppressing the activation of immune cells [12,13,14]. Interleukin (IL)-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in inhibiting Th1 responses [15]. Some studies focused on MCs as a source of IL-10, which plays an essential role in modulating the inflammatory response in specific pathologies [27,28,29].
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