Atopic dermatitis and skin diseaseAnalysis of CD25hiCD4+ “regulatory” T-cell subtypes in atopic dermatitis reveals a novel TH2-like population
Section snippets
Subjects
Patients with AD were diagnosed by using the criteria of Hanifin and Rajka.18 T-cell studies were performed in 14 patients with AD (13 adults ages 19-53 years and 1 child, age 13 years) with high total IgE (≥250 IU/mL) and a clinical history of early disease onset (age < 1 year). Severity of disease was assessed by the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index.19 Healthy subjects without AD (ages 24-46 years; n = 14) who had low total IgE (<140 IU/mL) and reported no allergic symptoms were IgElow
Increased circulating CD25hiCD4+ T cells in patients with AD exhibit a surface phenotype consistent with skin-homing regulatory T cells
The properties of circulating CD25hiCD4+ T cells were compared in IgEhigh patients with AD and IgElow healthy controls (Table I). By using 7-color flow cytometry staining, we analyzed tissue-homing receptors normally expressed on CD25hi regulatory T cells in healthy individuals.12, 13, 20, 21, 22 Almost all CD4+ T cells that expressed the highest levels of CD25 also expressed the chemokine receptor CCR4 regardless of disease status (Fig 1, A; see this article's Fig E1 in the Online Repository
Discussion
We have identified a novel CD25hiCD4+ T-cell subtype with TH2-like properties in patients with AD. This subtype exhibits a phenotype characteristic of CD25hi regulatory T cells (CLA+CCR4+Foxp3+) but lacks expression of the chemokine receptor CCR6. Despite the capacity for whole CD25hiCD4+ T cells from patients with AD to suppress autologous effector T cells, the CD25hiCCR6neg T-cell subtype exhibited TH2-promoting properties as judged by (1) increased production of TH2 cytokines compared with
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Supported by National Institutes of Health RO1 grants AI-052196 and AI-020565 and by a grant to the University of Virginia General Clinical Research Center, 5 MO1 RR00847.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: J. A. Woodfolk has consultant arrangements with EpiVax Inc. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.