Absence of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (CD31) leads to increased severity of local and systemic IgE-mediated anaphylaxis and modulation of mast cell activation

Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) is a newly assigned member of the Ig-immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif superfamily, and its functional role is suggested to be an inhibitory receptor that modulates immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif-dependent signaling cascades. In this study, we hypothesized that PECAM-1 plays an essential in vivo role as a counterregulator of immediate hypersensitivity reactions. We found that PECAM-1 was highly expressed on the surface of immature bone marrow mast cells and at a lower density on mature peritoneal mast cells. Examination of skin biopsies from PECAM-1(+/+) and PECAM-1(-/-) mice revealed that absence of PECAM-1 did not affect mast cell development or the capacity of mast cells to populate tissues. To examine whether the absence of PECAM-1 would influence immediate hypersensitivity reactions, PECAM-1(+/+) and PECAM-1(-/-) mice were presensitized with anti-DNP mouse IgE and then challenged 20 h later with DNP-BSA or PBS. PECAM-1(-/-) mice exhibited elevated serum histamine concentrations after Ag stimulation compared with PECAM-1(+/+) mice, indicating an increased severity of systemic IgE-mediated anaphylaxis. PECAM-1(-/-) mice have increased sensitivity to local cutaneous IgE-dependent anaphylaxis compared with PECAM-1(+/+) mice, as assessed by greater tissue swelling of their ears and mast cell degranulation in situ. PECAM-1(-/-) bone marrow mast cells showed enhanced dense granule serotonin release after Fc epsilon RI cross-linking in vitro. These results suggest that PECAM-1 acts as a counterregulator in allergic disease susceptibility and severity and negatively modulates mast cell activation.