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. 2013 Jan;22(1):64-6.
doi: 10.1111/exd.12060.

Skewed distribution of natural killer cells in psoriasis skin lesions

Mariana D Batista, Emily L Ho, Peter J Kuebler, Jeffrey M Milush, Lewis L Lanier, Esper G Kallas, Vanessa A York, David Chang, Wilson Liao, Patrick Unemori, Kieron S Leslie, Toby Maurer, Douglas F Nixon

Skewed distribution of natural killer cells in psoriasis skin lesions

Mariana D Batista et al. Exp Dermatol. 2013 Jan.

Abstract

Psoriasis is a hyper-proliferative disease of the skin in which immunological mechanisms play a direct pathogenetic role. There have been limited studies of natural killer (NK) cells in psoriasis. The aim of this study was to examine the phenotype of NK cells in skin biopsies and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with psoriasis and healthy controls. CD56(+) CD16(-) and CD56(+) CD16(+) NK cells were isolated from lesional skin, unaffected skin and PBMC of psoriasis patients, and normal skin and PBMC from healthy controls. The expression of CD57, NKG2A and NKG2C was assessed by flow cytometry. NK cells in psoriasis skin lesions were skewed in their expression of CD57, a marker of NK cell maturity, with CD57 expression significantly reduced and NKG2A expression increased on NK cells in lesional and unaffected skin compared to controls. These data suggest that in this patient cohort, NK cells could be isolated from psoriasis lesions and exhibit an immature phenotype.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement: No conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Frequency of CD56+CD16+ NK cells in lesional skin (n=7) and unaffected skin (n=8) of psoriasis patients and skin from healthy controls (n=3), and in the blood of psoriasis patients (n=11) and healthy controls (n=10). (b) CD57+CD56+CD16+ NK cells in skin and the blood. (c) NKG2A expression on CD56+CD16+ NK cells in skin and the blood. (d) NKG2C expression on CD56+CD16+ NK cells from skin and PBMC. * = p<0.05, *** = p<0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Frequency of CD56+CD16− NK cells in lesional skin and unaffected skin of psoriasis patients and skin from healthy controls and in the blood of psoriasis patients and healthy controls. (b) CD57+CD56+CD16− NK cells in skin and the blood. (c) NKG2A expression on CD56+CD16− NK cells in skin and the blood. (d) NKG2C expression on CD56+CD16− NK cells from skin and PBMC. * = p<0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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