A novel human CC chemokine, eotaxin-3, which is expressed in IL-4-stimulated vascular endothelial cells, exhibits potent activity toward eosinophils.

IL-4 has been shown to be involved in the accumulation of leukocytes, especially eosinophils, at sites of inflammation by acting on vascular endothelial cells. To identify novel molecules involved in the IL-4-dependent eosinophil extravasation, cDNA prepared from HUVEC stimulated with IL-4 was subjected to differential display analysis, which revealed a novel CC chemokine designated as eotaxin-3. The human eotaxin-3 gene has been localized to chromosome 7q11.2, unlike most other CC chemokine genes. The predicted mature protein of 71 aa showed 27-42% identity to other human CC chemokines. The recombinant protein induced a transient increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and in vitro chemotaxis on eosinophils. Furthermore, in cynomolgus monkeys, the accumulation of eosinophils was observed at the sites where the protein was injected. Eotaxin-3 inhibited the binding of 125I-eotaxin, but not 125I-macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha, to eosinophils and acted on cell lines transfected with CCR-3, suggesting that eotaxin-3 recognized CCR-3. IL-13 as well as IL-4 up-regulated eotaxin-3 mRNA in HUVEC, whereas neither TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IFN-gamma, nor TNF-alpha plus IFN-gamma did. The expression profile of eotaxin-3 is different from those of eotaxin, RANTES, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-4, which are potent eosinophil-selective chemoattractants and are induced by either TNF-alpha or TNF-alpha plus IFN-gamma. These results suggest that eotaxin-3 may contribute to the eosinophil accumulation in atopic diseases.