title: Methods to Investigate the Role of Toll-Like Receptors in Allergic Contact Dermatitis.
abstract: Allergic contact disease is a common inflammatory skin disease resulting from hyperresponsiveness to harmless nonprotein substances such as metals, fragrances, or rubber. Recent research has highlighted a prominent role of Toll-like receptors, particularly TLR4 in contact allergen-induced innate immune activation that crucially contributes to the pathogenesis of this disease. Here we describe several methods to investigate the role of Toll-like receptors in contact allergen-induced pro-inflammatory responses. These include expansion of disease-relevant human primary cells including endothelial cells and keratinocytes and their manipulation of TLR signaling by transfection, retroviral infection and RNA interference, basic methods to induce contact hypersensitivity in mice, and protocols for adoptive transfer of hapten-stimulated dendritic cells and T cells from TLR-deficient mice to wild-type mice and vice versa wild-type mice to TLR-deficient mice in order to explore cell-specific roles of TLRs in contact hypersensitivity responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider Str. 2, Würzburg, 97080, Germany. Schmidt_M11@ukw.de.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider Str. 2, Würzburg, 97080, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goebeler
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Hauptstraße 7, Freiburg, 79104, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D017449:Dermatitis, Allergic Contact / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015870:Gene Expression; D006241:Haptens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D006241:Haptens; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors
keywords: Allergic contact dermatitis; Contact hypersensitivity; Hapten; Metal allergen; TLR4