title: Progression of mycosis fungoides is associated with increasing cutaneous expression of interleukin-10 mRNA.
abstract: Cytokines are believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous T cell lymphoma. Data regarding the local cytokine pattern in mycosis fungoides (MF) are partly conflicting. Recent studies have suggested a shift from type 1 to type 2 cytokine pattern because IL-4 and IL-5 mRNA have been more frequently detected in lesions of advanced stages. Another study has described a type 1 cytokine pattern in MF lesions. None of the previous studies of cytokine mRNA expression in MF, however, used quantitative methods, and therefore only the presence of a cytokine, but not the level of expression, could be determined. To gain better insight into the development of cytokine pattern during tumor progression we used semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction to analyze cytokine mRNA expression in MF skin lesions at different stages. Biopsies from patients with patch (n = 11), plaque (n = 6), and tumor (n = 3) stage MF were compared with biopsies from patients with pleomorphic T cell lymphoma (n = 5), psoriasis (n = 7), atopic dermatitis (n = 5), and nonlesional skin (n = 8). MF progression was associated with significantly higher IL-10 and lower interferon-gamma mRNA expression. Moreover, the stage-dependent increase in IL-10 mRNA expression was also found in paired samples from individual patients. Unlike in pleomorphic T cell lymphoma, however, typical T helper 2 cells did not seem to be the source of increasing IL-10 in advanced MF, because stage-independent IL-4 mRNA was rarely detected, suggesting contribution of nonlymphoid cells to local IL-10 production. The overexpression of IL-10 in MF may be of importance for tumor progression, because this immunosuppressive cytokine might be involved in downregulation of immunologic tumor surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Charité, Berlin Humboldt University, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asadullah
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Döcke
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haeussler
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sterry
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Volk
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism*; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000378:metabolism*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016753:Interleukin-10; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma