Epidermal cytokines in murine cutaneous irritant responses

Investigations on cytokines in skin irritancy or non-immunological irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) should improve our understanding of their complex mechanism. Numerous studies showed, however, that similar epidermal cytokines have been detected in irritant and allergic reactions, suggesting a lack of specific cytokines that clearly differentiate allergic from irritant reactions even though the pathomechanisms between allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) and ICD are distinguished. Recent data, however, indicate that some mediators may be restricted to allergic responses (contact hypersensitivity). This could provide the impetus to study their implication on irritant reactions. We overview the epidermal cytokines involved in irritant responses compared to those in contact hypersensitivity based on published results of studies using in vitro cell-cultured murine keratinocytes and in vivo murine models.