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CA Corresponding Author Te l: 61–2-93514434 Fax : 61–2-93514391 E-mail: [email protected] EOSINOPHILS are present throughout the airw ay w all of as thm atics . The nature of the interaction between human airw ay sm ooth m uscle cells (ASMC) and eosinophils w as in ve stigated in this s tudy. We dem onstrated, usin g light m icroscopy, that fr e shly iso lated eosinophils from healthy donors rapidly attach to ASMC in vitro . Num bers of attached eosinoph ils were h ighest at 2 h, fa lling to 50% of m ax im um by 20 h. Eosinophil attachm ent at 2 h was reduced to 72% of con trol by an ti-VCAM-1, and to 74% at 20 h by an tiICAM-1. Pre-treatm ent of ASMC for 24 h w ith TNFa , 10 nM, s ignificantly in creased eos inoph il adhesion to 149 and 157% of control after 2 and 20 h. Th es e results provide evidence that eosinophil in te ractions w ith ASMC in volve VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and are m odulated by TNFa .