Naoyuki Higashi, Kaida Wu, Christian Grønhøj Larsen, Mette Deleuran, Seiji Kawana, Kazuya Yamamoto, Kristian Thestrup-Pedersen
DOI: 10.1080/00015550152572895

Signalling via the CD43 and CDw60 epitopes has been reported as providing two novel pathways of T-lymphocyte activation. In Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, which has atopic eczema-like skin symptoms, there is a defective expression of CD43, while CDw60 is strongly expressed on T cells from rheumatoid arthritis synovial fluid and from psoriatic skin lesions, and on blood mononuclear cells from patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. We therefore studied the expression and function of these phenotypes on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and on CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets from patients with atopic dermatitis. We observed a significant increase in the percentage of CD43+ cells among the blood mononuclear cells in patients with atopic dermatitis and an enhanced proliferation of CD4+ T cells following stimulation with anti-CD43 antibody. There were no changes in the CDw60 expression or function after stimulation with antiCDw60 antibody. Thus, CD43 expression was not decreased but rather increased in blood mononuclear cells from patients with atopic dermatitis, whereas CDw60 expression did not differ from healthy controls.