Jj. Garioch et al., T-LYMPHOCYTES IN LESIONAL SKIN OF PATIENTS WITH DERMATITIS-HERPETIFORMIS, British journal of dermatology, 131(6), 1994, pp. 822-826
Ten patients with dermatitis herpetiformis had biopsies taken from inv
olved and uninvolved skin. Monoclonal antibodies and the avidin-biotin
peroxidase staining technique were used to stain for T cells and Lang
erhans cells in skin sections. A significant increase in the number of
CD3-positive T cells was observed in the upper dermis of involved com
pared with uninvolved skin (P < 0.0005). Most of the T cells in involv
ed skin were CD45RO-positive memory cells; CD4-positive T cells exceed
ed the number of CD8-positive T cells by a ratio of 4:1. In addition,
CD1a-positive dendritic cells were observed within the clumps of T cel
ls in involved dermis in nine of the 10 patients, but were absent from
the dermis of uninvolved skin. Double immunofluorescent staining demo
nstrated that approximately 20-40% of the CD3-positive T cells were ac
tivated, and expressed the HLA-DR antigen. These findings suggest that
activated T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of dermatitis herp
etiformis skin lesions.