Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 28 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5786, pp. 526 - 530
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128877
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Mast Cells Can Enhance Resistance to Snake and Honeybee Venoms

Martin Metz,1 Adrian M. Piliponsky,1 Ching-Cheng Chen,1 Verena Lammel,1 Magnus Åbrink,2 Gunnar Pejler,2 Mindy Tsai,1 Stephen J. Galli1*

Snake or honeybee envenomation can cause substantial morbidity and mortality, and it has been proposed that the activation of mast cells by snake or insect venoms can contribute to these effects. We show, in contrast, that mast cells can significantly reduce snake-venom–induced pathology in mice, at least in part by releasing carboxypeptidase A and possibly other proteases, which can degrade venom components. Mast cells also significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. These findings identify a new biological function for mast cells in enhancing resistance to the morbidity and mortality induced by animal venoms.

1 Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305–5324, USA.
2 Department of Molecular Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, The Biomedical Center, Box 575, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sgalli{at}stanford.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Guinea Pig Chymase Is Leucine-specific: A NOVEL EXAMPLE OF FUNCTIONAL PLASTICITY IN THE CHYMASE/GRANZYME FAMILY OF SERINE PEPTIDASES.
G. H. Caughey, J. Beauchamp, D. Schlatter, W. W. Raymond, N. N. Trivedi, D. Banner, H. Mauser, and J. Fingerle (2008)
J. Biol. Chem. 283, 13943-13951
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
IL-10 Suppresses Mast Cell IgE Receptor Expression and Signaling In Vitro and In Vivo.
S. Kennedy Norton, B. Barnstein, J. Brenzovich, D. P. Bailey, M. Kashyap, K. Speiran, J. Ford, D. Conrad, S. Watowich, M. R. Moralle, et al. (2008)
J. Immunol. 180, 2848-2854
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mast cell deficiency in KitW-sh mice does not impair antibody-mediated arthritis.
J. S. Zhou, W. Xing, D. S. Friend, K. F. Austen, and H. R. Katz (2007)
J. Exp. Med. 204, 2797-2802
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular mechanism of mast cell mediated innate defense against endothelin and snake venom sarafotoxin.
L. A. Schneider, S. M. Schlenner, T. B. Feyerabend, M. Wunderlin, and H.-R. Rodewald (2007)
J. Exp. Med. 204, 2629-2639
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)