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Atopic dermatitis: immunophenotyping of inflammatory cells in skin lesions
L Lugović1, J Lipozenocić, J Jakić-Razumović
1Department of Dermatovenereology, Zagreb University Hospital Center, School of Medicine, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Background:
The ever increasing incidence of atopic dermatitis (AD) has stimulated many researchers to use various diagnostic procedures to obtain new data to help elucidate the pathogenesis of the disease.
Aims:
To perform cell immunophenotyping and to analyze the presence of inflammatory cell-surface markers in the biopsies of skin lesions from 15 AD patients and five healthy subjects.
Methods:
Immunohistochemical analysis was performed in a group of AD patients and compared with that in a control group of healthy subjects. Avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase staining of paraffin-embedded, 4 microm skin sections, with semiquantitative counting of cells labeled with anti-CD3, anti-CD8, anti-CD20, anti-HLA-DR (HLA, human leukocyte antigen), and anti-immunoglobulin E (anti-IgE) primary antibodies, was used.
Results:
The results of AD skin analysis showed a greater infiltration of CD3+ lymphocytes, especially of CD4+ subtype, compared with CD8+ lymphocytes. AD skin biopsy specimens also showed a higher intraepidermal HLA-DR+ Langerhans' cell count, the presence of HLA-DR on lymphocytes in the dermis, and higher intraepidermal expression of IgE+ cells compared with healthy controls.
Conclusions:
A statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between the two groups for intradermal and intraepidermal CD3, CD4, and HLA-DR, intradermal CD8, and intraepidermal IgE+ cells. Immunophenotyping was found to be a useful diagnostic method in AD patients.