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Updated: Aug 16, 2026
Granulocyte-dependent Autoantibody-induced Skin Blistering
Published on: October 12, 2012
The involvement of immunoglobulin E isotype switch in scleroderma skin tissue
Tsutomu Ohtsuka1, Soji Yamazaki
1Department of Dermatology, Koshigaya Hospital, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan. tohtsuka@dokkyomed.ac.jp
Background:
The involvement of mast cell, which is activated by immunoglobulin E (IgE), has been reported in the formation of systemic sclerosis (SSc) abnormality. IgE is generated with isotype switch. During isotype switch, switch circles resulting from direct mu to epsilon, or from sequential mu to gamma via epsilon switching will be created.
Objective:
We studied whether switching occurs in SSc.
Methods:
We used nested polymerase chain reaction to analyze the S fragments from switch circles. Fifty-two patients with SSc, and 62 healthy women were studied.
Results:
Neither of 62 normal skin tissues showed direct switch, nor sequential switch. Neither of seven normal whole blood cells showed direct switch, nor sequential switch. In 52SSc skin tissues, three (5.8%) showed direct switch, and two (3.8%) showed sequential switch. As a result, five (9.6%) of SSc skin tissue showed immunogobulin E class switch. These results were confirmed by DNA sequencing.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrated that isotype switch to the epsilon locus achieved by direct and/or sequential switch are involved in SSc skin.
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