Until recently, basophils had often been neglected in immunologic studies because of their
minority status among immune cells or confused with tissue-resident mast cells because of
some phenotypic similarities between them in spite of different anatomic localization. It is
now appreciated that basophils and mast cells are distinct cell lineages and that basophils
play important and nonredundant roles distinct from those played by mast cells. On the one
hand, basophils contribute beneficially to protective immunity, particularly against parasitic …