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Allergic contact dermatitis: the cellular effectors
Author(s) -
Kimber Ian,
Dearman Rebecca J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0536.2002.460101.x
Subject(s) - effector , allergic contact dermatitis , cytotoxic t cell , immunology , cd8 , contact dermatitis , t lymphocyte , t cell , biology , chemistry , allergy , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , in vitro , genetics
Contact hypersensitivity reactions are mediated by lymphocytic effector cells. Until recently it was believed that the most important of these were CD4 + T lymphocytes. However, there is growing evidence that in many instances the predominant effector cell may be a CD8 + T lymphocyte, with in some instances CD4 + cells performing a counter‐regulatory function. Here we review the roles of CD4 + T helper (Th) cells and CD8 + T cytotoxic (Tc) cells, and their main functional subpopulations (respectively, Th1 and Th2 cells and Tc1 and Tc2 cells) in the elicitation of contact hypersensitivity reactions and consider the implications of effector cell selectivity for the biology of allergic contact dermatitis.