Premium
Wells'syndrome: a pathogenic role for circulating CD4 + CD7 − T cells expressing interleukin‐5 mRNA
Author(s) -
YAGI H.,
TOKURA Y.,
MATSUSHITA K.,
HANAOKA K.,
FURUKAWA F.,
TAKIGAWA M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2133.1997.01804.x
Subject(s) - eosinophilia , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , eosinophilic , cd8 , interleukin 5 , pathogenesis , pathology , immunology , histiocyte , cytokine , eotaxin , interferon gamma , biology , interleukin , medicine , inflammation , chemokine , antigen , biochemistry , in vitro
Summary Wells'syndrome, or eosinophilic cellulitis, is a rare dermatosis characterized histologically by a dermal infiltrate of eosinophils, lymphocytes and histiocytes between collagen bundles and amorphous or granular eosinophilic deposits on collagen, constituting flame figures. We report a 54‐yearold woman with eosinophilic cellulitis whose peripheral blood showed a marked eosinophilia and a high proportion of CD4 + CD7 − cells before treatment. Reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction revealed that CD4 + CD7 − cells, but neither CD4 + CD7 + nor CD4 − CD8 + cells, in the circulating mononuclear cells expressed mRNA for interleukin (IL)‐5, the major cytokine involved in eosinophilla. The proportion of CD4 + CD7 − cells decreased, and expression of mRNA for IL‐5 disappeared in the peripheral blood, when the disease was treated by the administration of intravenous recombinant interferon‐γ. These findings suggest that circulating CD4 + CD7 − T cells play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of eosinophilic cellulitis by producing IL‐5.