title: A role for human skin-resident T cells in wound healing.
abstract: Epidermal T cells have been shown to play unique roles in tissue homeostasis and repair in mice through local secretion of distinct growth factors in the skin. Human epidermis contains both alphabeta(+) and gammadelta(+) T cells whose functional capabilities are not understood. We demonstrate that human epidermal T cells are able to produce insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) upon activation and promote wound healing in a skin organ culture model. Moreover, an analysis of the functional capabilities of T cells isolated from acute versus chronic wounds revealed a striking difference. Both alphabeta(+) and Vdelta1(+) T cells isolated from acute wounds actively produced IGF-1, demonstrating that they are activated during tissue damage to participate in wound repair. In contrast, IGF-1 production could not be detected in T cells isolated from chronic wounds. In fact, skin T cells isolated from chronic wounds were refractory to further stimulation, suggesting an unresponsive state. Collectively, these results define a novel role for human epidermis-resident T cells in wound healing and provide new insight into our understanding of chronic wound persistence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toulon
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Breton
authors.forename: Kristen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Mayer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tenenhaus
authors.forename: Dhaval
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhavsar
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lanigan
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rudolph
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jameson
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Havran
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D004817:Epidermis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D052816:Foreskin / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I