title: Epidermal keratinocytes do not activate peripheral T-cells: interleukin-10 as a possible regulator.
abstract: The immunogenicity of allogeneic cultured human epidermal keratinocytes (cHEKs) has been studied in several models with contradictory results. We studied human T-cell activation in an in vitro assay by incubating, for 4 and 24 hr, cHEK confluent sheets with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC); parallel HEK cultures were incubated with interferon (IFN)-gamma to induce the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules before their interaction with PBMC. T-cell activation was evaluated by flow cytometry. T cells neither expressed the early and late activation markers CD69 and CD25, respectively, nor proliferated after incubation with the epidermal sheets, despite the IFN-gamma-induced expression of MHC and adhesion molecules in cHEKs. Interleukin (IL)-10 was detected in the medium from the co-cultured PBMC and HEK sheets, but not from HEK alone. The results suggest that HEKs are unable to stimulate T lymphocytes through secretion of cytokines that might contribute to the immunosuppressive effect in this in vitro model.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Celular, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Rocío Isabel
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Domínguez-Castillo
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Guzmán
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Castro-Muñozledo
authors.forename: Leopoldo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santos-Argumedo
authors.forename: Walid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kuri-Harcuch
mesh_terms: D002450:Cell Communication / Q000276:immunology; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004817:Epidermis / Q000276:immunology*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000276:immunology*; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D016753:Interleukin-10