Enzyme release and superoxide anion production by human alveolar macrophages stimulated with immunoglobulin E.

Human alveolar macrophages specifically released lysosomal beta-glucuronidase and neutral proteases when successively incubated with IgE, and then, for 30 min, with anti-IgE. Superoxide anion O2- generation was obtained when anti-IgE-opsonized zymosan was added to IgE-incubated cells. Macrophages from smokers excreted twice as much enzymes and superoxide as cells from non-smokers. It was possible to induce the specific release of beta-glucuronidase with normal alveolar macrophages successively incubated with the serum of patients allergic to house dust or to grass pollen and then with the specific allergen. This characteristic opens the field to a direct test for allergic sera by analogy with the allergen-induced degranulation test of sensitized basophils.