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T lymphocytes in lesional skin of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis
Author(s) -
GARIOCH J.J.,
BAKER B.S.,
LEONARD J.N.,
FRY L.
Publication year - 1994
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1994.tb08584.x
Subject(s) - dermatitis herpetiformis , dermis , cd3 , cd8 , staining , dermal papillae , pathology , monoclonal antibody , epidermis (zoology) , immunohistochemistry , medicine , stain , antigen , immunology , antibody , anatomy , hair follicle , disease
Summary Ten patients with dermatitis herpetiformis had biopsies taken from involved skin.Monoclonal antibodies and the avidin‐biotin peroxidase staining technique were used to stain for T cells and Langerhans cells in skin sections. A significant increase in the number of CD3‐positive T cells was observed in the upper dermis of involved compared with uninvolved skin (P<0.0005). Most of the T cells in involved skin were CD45RO‐positive memory cells; CD4‐positive T cells exceeded the number of CD8‐positive T cells by a ratio of 4:1. In addition, CD1a‐positive dendritic cells were observed within the clumps of T cells in involved dermis in nine of the 10 patients, but were absent from the dermis of uninvolved skin. Double immunofluorescent staining demonstrated that approximately 20–40% of the CD3‐positive T cells were activated, and expressed the HLA‐DR antigen. These findings suggest that activated T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of dermatitis herpetiformis skin lesions.