title: Involvement of dendritic cells in sarcoidosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown aetiology. It has been suggested that T helper type 1 (Th1) polarisation is associated with the pathophysiology of sarcoidosis, but the mechanism of skewing towards Th1 has not been elucidated. Dendritic cells (DCs) are known to regulate immune responses. This study was performed to determine whether DCs are involved in the aetiology of sarcoidosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The numbers of peripheral blood DCs in 24 patients with sarcoidosis were analysed and biopsy specimens from four patients were stained immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The numbers of both myeloid and lymphoid DC subsets were significantly decreased in the blood and mature DCs were found in the granulomas of patients with sarcoidosis. A number of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) producing T cells were also detected in the sarcoid granuloma, as well as many interleukin (IL)-4 producing T cells. Double staining of the biopsy specimen using anti-fascin and anti-CD3 antibodies showed an anatomical interaction between DCs and T cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that the blood DC subsets may migrate into the affected tissues, contributing to the formation of the granulomas in sarcoidosis. It is hypothesised that the migrating DCs may regulate the T cell response in sarcoidosis, at least in the granulomatous lesions.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, 10-15 Fumizono-cho, Moriguchi, Osaka 570-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amakawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uehira
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oshiro
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Date
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oyaizu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shigeki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yonezu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuhara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric