concanavalin-a and Staphylococcal-Skin-Infections

CCL27 (also named CTACK, ALP, ILC and ESkine) is a CC chemokine primarily expressed by keratinocytes of the skin. The cognate receptor of CCL27 named CCR10 (GPR-2), is also expressed in skin-derived cells, and in addition by a subset of peripheral blood T-cells and in a variety of other tissues. In this paper, we report the cloning of porcine CCL27 cDNA and investigation of CCL27 mRNA expression in Staphylococcus hyicus infected piglets. At the protein level, 77 and 74% homology was found to human and mouse CCL27 sequences, respectively. The results of the expression analyses show that CCL27 mRNA is upregulated in the skin of infected piglets and to a lesser extent in piglets recovered from disease and without clinical signs of infection, indicating a role for CCL27 both during inflammation and after recovery from an infection.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biopsy; Chemokine CCL27; Chemokines, CC; Concanavalin A; Epidermitis, Exudative, of Swine; Exfoliatins; Gene Expression Regulation; Interleukin-12; Molecular Sequence Data; Phytohemagglutinins; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger; Sequence Alignment; Staphylococcal Skin Infections; Staphylococcus; Swine

Staphylococcal superantigens have been implicated in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD). This may occur through superantigenic activation of T lymphocytes and their subsequent induction of the skin homing receptor CLA on activated cells. We investigated the proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 10 patients with an infective exacerbation of AD and six normal controls to the staphylococcal superantigens, staphylococcal enterotoxin A and B (SEA, SEB) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), and the mitogens phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A). We also assessed CLA and T cell receptor (TCR) Vbeta-chain expression by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry before and after stimulation. PBMC from AD patients showed two-fold increased proliferation to SEA and SEB (P < 0.01) compared with normals, whereas the response to mitogenic stimulation was identical. Analysis of (TCR) Vbeta-chain expression demonstrated increased use of superantigen-reactive Vbeta families in freshly isolated PBMC in AD patients compared with controls. This pattern of Vbeta-chain expression was only observed in the CLA+ but not the total population of T cells. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the enhanced PBMC proliferative response and increased expression of superantigen-reactive Vbeta families in atopic patients. These data support the concept that superantigens are important in the pathogenesis of this common condition, and also provide evidence that the increased use of certain Vbeta families in circulating, CLA+, skin homing lymphocytes is of functional significance.

Topics: Adult; Antigens, Bacterial; Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; Antigens, Neoplasm; Bacterial Toxins; Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; Concanavalin A; Dermatitis, Atopic; Enterotoxins; Female; Flow Cytometry; Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; Humans; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Membrane Glycoproteins; Phytohemagglutinins; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; Skin; Staphylococcal Skin Infections; Superantigens; T-Lymphocyte Subsets