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Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is one of the
proteins released on eosinophil degranulation, and is
generally recognized as being involved in allergic
inflammation with cytotoxic activity. This
cytotoxicity is mainly explained as an antiparasitic
and bactericidal activity in infectious diseases.
However, ECP has also been reported to be
cytotoxic toward host cells, e.g., the tracheal
epithelium.
1
On the other hand, recent studies showed that
ECP has a broad impact on cell functions. ECP was
reported to show neurotoxicity
2
and apoptotic
effects on several eukaryotic cell lines,
3
while its did
not induce cell death but inhibited the growth of
cancer’derived cells.
4
Furthermore, human ECP
enhanced differentiation of rat neonatal
cardiomyocytes and stress fiber formation in Balb/c
3T3 mouse fibroblasts,
5
while the effects of human
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