IN-SITU DETECTION OF CYTOKINE MESSENGER-RNAS IN THE ECCRINE SWEAT GLAND OF NORMAL HUMAN SKIN

Human sweat and eccrine sweat glands contained the multifunctional pol ypeptide cytokines, interleukin-1 alpha and beta (IL-1 alpha and beta) . To determine whether the sweat gland itself is an actual site of tra nscription for cytokines we performed in situ hybridization on histolo gic sections of normal human skin. In this report we show that the mRN As encoding the cytokines IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, and tumor necrosis fa ctor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are present in normal human skin eccrine sweat gland duct and secretory coil epithelium. These results suggest that i n vivo the sweat gland is a production site for cytokine polypeptides and may contribute to the exceedingly large quantities of these cytoki ne proteins found in the epidermis.