Immunosuppressive roles of natural killer T (NKT) cells in the skin.

The skin is a complex immunological niche providing immunity to invading pathogens while simultaneously maintaining tolerance to innocuous environmental antigens. Consistent with this complex response, the skin is resident to both immunosuppressive and effector cell populations whose activities are tightly regulated. While NKT cells can activate immune responses in the skin, this review will highlight studies on UV-induced photodamage, models of NMSCs, transplantation and allergic inflammation where NKT cells appear to have an immunosuppressive role in the skin.