An eosinophil immune response characterizes the inflammatory skin disease observed in Tie-2 transgenic mice.
Although mouse models of inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis fail to completely phenocopy disease in humans, they provide invaluable tools to examine the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the epidermal hyperplasia, inflammation, and excess angiogenesis observed in human disease. We have previously characterized a tyrosine kinase with immunoglobin-like and epidermal growth factor-like domain-2 (Tie-2) transgenic mouse model of an inflammatory skin disease exhibiting these features. More specifically, we demonstrated that the inflammatory component consisted of increased infiltration of CD3-positive T lymphocytes and mast cells in the skin. Here, we further characterize the inflammatory component in the blood and skin of Tie-2 transgenic mice at cellular and molecular levels. We observed increased numbers of CD3-positive T lymphocytes in the blood and increased infiltration of eosinophils in the skin. Furthermore, we characterized cytokine protein and gene expression in the blood and skin, respectively, and observed the deregulated expression of cytokines associated with Th1 and eosinophil immune responses. Interestingly, treatment of Tie-2 transgenic mice with anti-CD4 antibody appeared to resolve aspects of inflammation but did not resolve epidermal hyperplasia, suggesting an important role for eosinophils in mediating the inflammatory skin disease observed in Tie-2 transgenic mice.
Voskas
Daniel
D
Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Babichev
Yael
Y
Ling
Ling S
LS
Alami
Jennifer
J
Shaked
Yuval
Y
Kerbel
Robert S
RS
Ciruna
Brian
B
Dumont
Daniel J
DJ
D000818:Animals; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000276:immunology; D002452:Cell Count; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology
D017252:CD3 Complex; D016207:Cytokines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2