RESUMO
BACKGROUND: To date, there is no unequivocal opinion on whether human eosinophils express tissue factor (TF). Therefore, we studied the expression of TF protein and activity in resting or stimulated immunologically purified human eosinophils. METHODS AND RESULTS: By use of immunologic isolation, we achieved over 96% purity of eosinophil preparations, and contamination by CD14-positive cells was below 0.3%. Flow cytometric [fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)] analysis of eosinophils revealed no surface expression of TF antigen in resting or stimulated eosinophils. Immunoblotting of eosinophil lysates did not show any TF protein under resting or stimulated conditions. The lysates of resting or stimulated eosinophils contained no detectable levels of TF procoagulant activity. In contrast, monocytes, stimulated in plasma or medium, possessed readily detectable TF levels on the cell surface and in cell lysates as detected by FACS and immunoblotting. This was active TF antigen, as confirmed by TF activity assay (19.2 +/- 4.2 and 28.6 +/- 3.1 mU per 10(6) cells, stimulated in medium or plasma, respectively). We found no detectable TF mRNA levels in resting or stimulated eosinophils by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), whereas in monocytes TF mRNA levels were significantly increased after stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that there is no evidence for TF expression in high-purity preparations of immunologically isolated eosinophils.
