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5th Meeting of the ’Endocrine Dermatology‘ Group of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dermatologische Forschung (ADF)
Author(s) -
A. Grützkau,
T. Zuberbier,
B. M. Henz,
T. A. Luger,
M. Böhm,
T. W. Fischer,
T. W. Sweatman,
I. Semak,
R. M. Sayre,
J. Wortsman,
A. Slominski,
H. Kurzen,
C. Fademrecht,
S. Goerdt,
H. Seltmann,
CH. C. Zouboulis,
A. Gratchev
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.108
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0625
pISSN - 0906-6705
DOI - 10.1111/j.0906-6705.2006.00439.x
Subject(s) - citation , medicine , dermatology , computer science , library science
The human basophil – a novel target of the neuropeptide alphamelanocyte-stimulating hormone M. Böhm, U. Raap, T. Scholzen, M. Mertens, R. Brehler, A. Kapp and T. A. Luger Department of Dermatology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Hannover Medical University, Hannover, Germany There is increasing evidence that the basophil does not only play an important role in acute allergic reactions but also in the pathogenesis of chronic allergic disorders. Here we show that human basophils express melanocortin receptors (MC-Rs) and respond to alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alphaMSH) with regulation of proallergic cytokine expression and modulation of basophil activation markers. Using primers against all known MC-R subtypes we demonstrate that the human basophil cell line KU812 expresses MC-1R. Expression of MC-1R on the surface of KU812 cells was confirmed by FACS analysis using an anti-MC-1R antibody. The MC-1R expressed by KU812 cells was functionally active as alphaMSH induced intracellular cAMP in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, alpha-MSH abrogated the effect of calcium ionophore A23187 on IL-4 mRNA expression in these cells. The relevance of the above findings was corroborated by showing that MC-1R surface expression is also detectable in basophils of leukocyte suspensions derived from whole human blood. Most interestingly, alpha-MSH was capable of suppressing the inductive effect of fMLP on surface expression of the basophil activation marker CD63 in leukocyte suspensions of atopic individuals. Likewise, alpha-MSH significantly blocked grass pollen-induced up-regulation of CD63 in leukocyte suspensions of patients with grass pollen allergy. Our findings highlight a novel functional dimension of alpha-MSH. In addition, MSH peptides may become a novel future therapeutic avenue in treating human allergic diseases. The vitamin D endocrine system of human sebocytes J. Reichrath, CH. Schuler, M. Seifert, CH. Zouboulis and W. Tilgen Department of Dermatology, The Saarland University Hospital, Homburg, Germany; Department of Dermatology, ChariteUniversitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin,