Prevention of toxic epidermal necrolysis by regulatory T cells.
To analyze immunoregulation of autoreactive T cells specific for epidermal skin antigens, we crossed transgenic mice expressing ovalbumin selectively in keratinocytes under the keratin 5 promoter (K5-mOVA) with mice expressing a K(b)-restricted OVA-specific T cell receptor transgene (OT-I). In athymic double-transgenic mice, OT-I cells developed extrathymically and, at 8-12 weeks of age, initiated severe epidermal damage mimicking toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). In contrast, euthymic double-transgenic mice showed thymic deletion of OT-I cells, had few of these cells in the periphery, and never developed skin changes mimicking TEN. Adoptive transfer of OT-I cells isolated from euthymic double-transgenic mice induced TEN in athymic K5-mOVA single-transgenic mice. This spontaneous disease in athymic double-transgenic mice was prevented by transferring lymph node cells from euthymic mice, but was not prevented when CD4(+) or CD25(+) cells were depleted from this population. Although purified CD4(+)CD25(+) cells scarcely prevented the skin disease induced by adoptive transfer of OT-I cells, they efficiently prevented the disease when co-transferred with CD11c(+) dendritic cells. These results suggested that thymus-derived regulatory T cells cooperate with CD11c(+) dendritic cells to prevent life-threatening skin damage such as TEN.
Azukizawa
Hiroaki
H
Department of Dermatology, Course of Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Sano
Shigetoshi
S
Kosaka
Hiroshi
H
Sumikawa
Yasuyuki
Y
Itami
Satoshi
S
D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D039521:CD11c Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D053569:Keratin-15; D053555:Keratin-5; D007633:Keratins / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D013262:Stevens-Johnson Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000502:physiology*
D039521:CD11c Antigen; D053569:Keratin-15; D053555:Keratin-5; C492053:Krt15 protein, mouse; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D007633:Keratins; D010047:Ovalbumin