Archives of dermatological research
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Arch. Dermatol. Res. · Jul 1998
Mast cells of psoriatic and atopic dermatitis skin are positive for TNF-alpha and their degranulation is associated with expression of ICAM-1 in the epidermis.
The release of cytokines from cutaneous cells may be of major importance in the initiation and development of many inflammatory skin disorders. For example, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), which in healthy skin is found preformed only in mast cells, is able to induce the expression of several adhesion molecules including intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). Increased expression of ICAM-1 occurs in keratinocytes in lesional skin of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (AD) and it is considered to be an important initiator of leucocyte/keratinocyte interactions in skin inflammation. ⋯ In cultured keratinocytes, both histamine and an extract of a human mast-cell line (HMC-1) induced ICAM-1 immunostaining only in occasional cells, but the combination of histamine and the HMC-1 extract resulted in intense ICAM-1 staining in numerous cells. This enhancement of ICAM-1 staining was abolished by preincubation of the HMC-1 extract with anti-TNF-alpha antibody. These results suggest that the degranulation of mast cells induces the expression of ICAM-1 in keratinocytes probably via TNF-alpha and histamine.