Presence of circulating CCR10+ T cells and elevated serum CTACK/CCL27 in the early stage of mycosis fungoides.
OBJECTIVE
Mycosis fungoides (MF), a common type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma with an indolent clinical course, has the characteristic that malignant T cell clones are recruited into the skin from the early disease stages. The mechanisms of recruitment have been suggested from our knowledge of various chemokine-chemokine receptor interactions. Recently, CCR10 and CTACK/CCL27 were proposed to play a role in the recruitment of other types of cutaneous T cell lymphoma. We examined the expression of CCR10 in peripheral blood and serum CTACK/CCL27 levels in patients with MF.


METHODS
Eighteen patients with MF, six patients with atopic dermatitis, and nine healthy volunteers were enrolled in our investigation. We investigated the differences in CCR10+ CD4+ expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by flow cytometry. Serum CTACK/CCL27 levels were determined using a CTACK/CCL27 ELISA assay kit.


RESULTS
The number of circulating CCR10+ CD4+ cells was significantly higher in MF peripheral blood than in controls, even during the early stages. In lesional MF skin, infiltrating tumor cells also showed extensive expression of CCR10. The serum level of CTACK/CCL27 was higher in patients with MF than normal controls, but no statistical difference was found compared with atopic dermatitis patients.


CONCLUSIONS
CCR10-CTACK/CCL27 interactions between circulating T cells and keratinocytes would seem to play an important role in the pathophysiology of MF from the early disease stages.
Fujita
Yasuyuki
Y
Department of Dermatology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. yfujita@med.hokudai.ac.jp
Abe
Riichiro
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Sasaki
Mikako
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Honda
Ayumi
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Furuichi
Megumi
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Asano
Yukie
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Norisugi
Osamu
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Shimizu
Tadamichi
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Shimizu
Hiroshi
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