Characterization of Cellular Infiltrates in Skin Lesions of Atopic Eczema by Means of Monoclonal Antibodies

Abstract

Frozen skin biopsies from 3 acute and 3 chronic lesions of atopic dermatitis were examined by means of various ortho-monoclonal antibodies (OKT<sub>3,4 </sub>] = <S08_MathtechnicalPB>C</S08_MathtechnicalPB>4, OKT<sub>6</sub>, OKT<sub>8</sub>; OKI<sub>a</sub> and OKM<sub>1</sub>) in an indirect immunofluorescence technique. The results show that both T helper (T<sub>4</sub>) and T suppressor cytotoxic (T<sub>8</sub>) lymphocytes are present in the inflammatory infiltration which predominantly contained la mononuclear cells. Despite the absence of double staining procedure, the observations suggest that T<sub>4</sub> cells predominate over T<sub>8</sub> cells in the acute lesions whereas the reverse tendency is noted in the chronic lesions. T<sub>8</sub> cells are found mainly in the superficial dermis or even in the epidermis; by contrast, T<sub>4</sub> cells tend to be more deeply located in the dermis. The lesions are characterized by a dramatic increase in the number of Langerhans cells (OKT<sub>6</sub>, OKI<sub>a</sub>+) that are found not only in the epidermis but also in the dermis.