Cytokine expression of skin T-lymphocytes from patients with atopic dermatitis.

We analysed the cytokine profile of skin T cells by establishing 11 T-cell lines from adult patients with moderate-to-severe atopic eczema using T-cell growth factors interleukin-2 and interleukin-4. We compared T-cell lines from lesional skin of atopic dermatitis patients with those from non-atopic skin of patients with other skin diseases, observing that T-cell lines of patients with atopic dermatitis unstimulated cultures expressed a Th1 profile. After stimulation with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies, the cytokine expression showed rapid initial upregulation of Th2 followed by a Th1 profile. Furthermore, strong upregulation of interleukin-10 was observed after 24 h stimulation. Our findings suggest that skin T-lymphocytes from atopic dermatitis patients seem to consist of a heterogenous population of Th1 and Th2 or Th0 cells and the results for secreted cytokines indicate that T-cell lines from each inflammatory skin disease showed the corresponding disease-specific original cytokine profile.