Evaluation of the expression of P-selectin, ICAM-1, and TNF-alpha in bacteria-free lesional skin of atopic dogs with low-to-mild inflammation.
Canine atopic dermatitis (AD) is a pruritic skin condition that shares many clinical and pathophysiological features with its human counterpart. A major therapeutic challenge of AD is the control of the skin inflammatory process. A detailed knowledge of the pro-inflammatory molecules involved in cell recruitment in AD would allow for a better control of the disease. We thus have studied the protein expression of P-selectin, ICAM-1 and TNF-alpha in the lesional and non-lesional skin of atopic dogs that had been treated for bacterial infections. Despite a low-to-mild inflammatory process, P-selectin protein was clearly upregulated in the lesional skin areas when compared with non-lesional skin (four-fold average increase). This P-selectin upregulation was accompanied by signs of functional changes such as increased cell margination, and membrane-associated protein expression. Although the expression of ICAM-1 and TNF-alpha was not enhanced in the lesional versus the non-lesional skin, there was a trend towards a correlated upregulation of both molecules. Further studies will help elucidate the significance of the substantial overexpression of P-selectin in canine AD, in particular in a scenario where bacterial antigens are not contributing as pro-inflammatory stimuli.
de Mora
F
F
Department of Pharmacology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. fernando.demora@uab.es
de la Fuente
C
C
Jasmin
P
P
Gatto
H
H
Marco
A
A
Ferrer
L
L
Fondati
A
A
Fondevila
D
D
Torres
R
R
D000818:Animals; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000662:veterinary; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D019007:P-Selectin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D015854:Up-Regulation
D019007:P-Selectin; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1