Skin: Immunological Defence Mechanisms

Brian J Nickoloff, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA

Published online: January 2007

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001215.pub2

Human skin is the largest organ of the body providing a protective coat to ensure that exogenous ‘noxious’ agents do not jeopardize the function of vital internal organ systems. Being situated at the interface between external and internal milieus, a number of remarkable structural and functional characteristics of skin have been delineated that contribute to its effectiveness at maintaining homeostasis.

Keywords: adhesion molecules; allergins; apoptosis; corticosteroids; cyclosporin A; cytokines; fas antigen; hypersensitivity reaction; irritants; interleukin; kaposi sarcoma; keratinocytes; langerhans cells; melanocytes; skin cancer; T lymphocyte; ultraviolet light; urushiol

Figure 1. Normal human skin includes a keratinized stratified squamous epidermis (stratum corneum, stratum granulosum, stratum spinosum and basal cell layer) including keratinocytes, Langerhans cells (LCs) and melanocytes. In the underlying dermis there are venuoles lined by endothelium, with angiocentric mast cells and dermal dendrocytes. The interstitial dermis contains collagen with fibroblasts and T lymphocytes.
Figure 2. (a) Clinical appearance of round, positive, patch-test sites (48 h) on the forearm of a volunteer previously exposed to poison ivy. (b) Histological appearance of a biopsy removed from the volunteer in (a) with infiltration of the epidermis and upper dermis by T lymphocytes. (c) Overview of molecular and cellular events in allergic contact dermatitis highlighting topically applied poison ivy antigen (red diamonds) percolating down from the surface and interacting with T cells moving upward from the dermis in which Langerhans cells (LCs) and dermal dendritic cells serve as the antigen presenting cells.
close
 References
    Andl T, Murchison EP, Liu F et al. (2006) The miRNA-processing enzyme dicer is essential for the morphogenesis and maintenance of hair follicles. Current Biology 16: 1041–1049.
    Barker JNWN, Mitra RS, Griffiths CEM, Dixit VM and Nickoloff BJ (1991) Keratinocytes as initiators of inflammation. Lancet 337: 211–214.
    Bos JD and Kapsenberg ML (1993) The skin immune system: progress in cutaneous biology. Immunology Today 14: 75–78.
    Bos JD, de Rie MA, Teunissen MB and Piskin G (2005) Psoriasis: dysregulation of innate immunity. British Journal of Dermatology 152: 1098–1107.
    Clark RA, Chong B, Mirchandani N et al. (2006) The vast majority of CLA+ T cells are resident in normal skin. The Journal of Immunology 176: 4431–4439.
    book Cooper K (1976) "Immunity mechanisms". In: Lofts B (ed.) Physiology of the Amphibian, pp. 164–179. New York: Academic Press.
    Elias PM and Friend DS (1975) The permeability barrier in mammalian epidermis. Journal of Cell Biology 65: 180–191.
    Elias PM and Menon GK (1991) Structural and lipid biochemical correlations of the epidermal permeability barrier. Advances in Lipid Research 24: 1–26.
    book Gell PGH, Coombs RRA and Lachmann P (eds) (1974) Clinical Aspects of Immunology, 3rd edn. Oxford: Blackwell Science Publications Ltd.
    Gottlieb AB, Chamian F, Masud S et al. (2005) TNF inhibition rapidly down-regulates multiple proinflammatory pathways in psoriasis plaques. The Journal of Immunology 175: 2721–2729.
    Gutierrez-Steil C, Wrone-Smith T, Sun X et al. (1998) Sunlight-induced basal cell carcinoma tumor cells and ultraviolet-B-irradiated psoriatic plaques express Fas ligand (CD95L). Journal of Clinical Investigation 101: 33–39.
    Haake AR and Polakowska R (1993) Cell death by apoptosis in epidermal biology. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 101: 107–112.
    Harder J, Bartels J, Chrisophers E and Schroder JM (1997) A peptide antibiotic from human skin. Nature 387: 861.
    Kim J, Ochoa MT, Krutzik SR et al. (2002) Activation of toll-like receptor 2 in acne triggers inflammatory cytokine responses. The Journal of Immunology 169: 1535–1541.
    Lippens S, Denecker G, Ovaere P, Vandenabeele P and Declercq W (2005) Death penalty for keratinocytes: apoptosis versus cornification. Cell Death and Differentiation 12(Suppl 2): 1497–1508.
    Muller HK, Bucana C and Kripke ML (1992) Antigen presentation in the skin: modulation by UV radiation and chemical carcinogen. Seminars in Immunology 4: 205–231.
    book Murphy GF (1991) "The secret of NIN: A novel neural-immunological network potentially integral to immunological function in human skin". In: Nickoloff BJ (ed.) Dermal Immune System, chap. 12, pp. 227–244. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
    Nickoloff BJ (2006) Keratinocytes regain momentum as instigators of cutaneous inflammation. Trends in Molecular Medicine 12: 102–106.
    Nickoloff BJ and Naidu Y (1994) Perturbation of epidermal barrier function correlates with initiation of cytokines cascade in human skin.Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 30: 535–546.
    Nickoloff BJ and Nestle FO (2004) Recent insights into the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis provide new therapeutic opportunities. Journal of Clinical Investigation 113: 1664–1675.
    Paus R, Nickoloff BJ and Ito T (2005) A ‘hairy’ privilege. Trends in Immunology 26: 32–40.
    Paus R, Veer C, Eichmuller S et al. (1998) Generation and cyclic remodeling of the hair follicle immune system in mice. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 111: 7–18.
    Payne AS, Hanakawa Y, Amagai M and Stanley JR (2004) Desmosomes and disease: pemphigus and bullous impetigo. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 16: 536–543.
    Raj D, Brash DE and Grossman D (2006) Keratinocyte apoptosis in epidermal development and disease. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 126: 243–257.
    Schroder JM (1995) Inflammatory mediators and chemoattractants. Clinics in Dermatology 13: 137–150.
    Smith FJ, Irvine AD, Terron-Kwiatkowski A et al. (2006) Loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding filaggrin cause ichthyosis vulgaris. Nature Genetics 38: 337–342.
    book Sontheimer RD and Tharp MD (1991) "Immunological repertoire of the dermal microvascular unit". In: Nickoloff BJ (ed.) Dermal Immune System, chap. 7, pp. 117–148. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
    Streilein JW (1978) Lymphocyte traffic, T cell malignancies and the skin. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 71: 167–179.
    Sugiyama H, Gyulai R, Toichi E et al. (2005) Dysfunctional blood and target tissue CD4+CD25high regulatory T cells in psoriasis: mechanism underlying unrestrained pathogenic effector T cell proliferation. The Journal of Immunology 174: 164–173.
    Ullrich SE (2005) Mechanisms underlying UV-induced immune suppression. Mutation Research 571: 185–205.
    Yi R, O’Carroll D, Pasolli HA et al. (2006) Morphogenesis in skin is governed by discrete sets of differentially expressed microRNAs. Nature Genetics 38: 356–362.
 Further Reading
    book Bos JD (1997) Skin Immune System, 2nd edn. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
    book Burg G and Dummer RG (1997) Strategies for Immunointerventions in Dermatology. New York: Springer.
    Kalish RS and Johnson KC (1990) Enrichment and function of urushiol (poison ivy) specific T lymphocytes in lesions of allergic contact dermatitis to urushiol. The Journal of Immunology 145: 3706–3713.
    book Koch AE and Strieter RM (1996) Chemokines in Disease. New York: Springer.
    book Leigh IM, Lane EB and Weh FM (1994) The Keratinocyte Handbook. New York: Cambridge University Press.
    Nickoloff BJ (1991) Cytokine network in psoriasis. Archives of Dermatology 127: 871–884.
    book Nickoloff BJ (1993) Dermal Immune System. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
    book Norris DA (1989) Immune Mechanisms in Cutaneous Disease. New York: Marcel Dekker.
    Streilein JW, Taylor J, Vincek V et al. (1994) Immune surveillance and sunlight-induced skin cancer. Immunology Today 15: 174–179.
    Thompson CB (1995) Apoptosis in the pathogenesis and treatment of disease. Science 267: 1456–1461.
    Valdimarsson H, Baker BS, Jonsdottir I, Powles A and Fox L (1995) Psoriasis: a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease induced by streptococcal superantigens?. Immunology Today 16: 145–153.

Related Sub-Topics:

Cells of the Immune System | Tissues of the Immune System
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Skin: Immunological Defence Mechanisms
 
How to Cite close
Nickoloff, Brian J(Jan 2007) Skin: Immunological Defence Mechanisms. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001215.pub2]