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Comparative Study
. 2013 Sep;169(3):700-3.
doi: 10.1111/bjd.12382.

Atopic dermatitis complicated by eczema herpeticum is associated with HLA B7 and reduced interferon-γ-producing CD8+ T cells

R A Mathias  1 , A Weinberg, M Boguniewicz, D J Zaccaro, B Armstrong, L C Schneider, T R Hata, J M Hanifin, L A Beck, K C Barnes, D Y M Leung
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Atopic dermatitis complicated by eczema herpeticum is associated with HLA B7 and reduced interferon-γ-producing CD8+ T cells

R A Mathias et al. Br J Dermatol. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Background: The increased susceptibility of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) to disseminated viral skin infections such as eczema herpeticum (ADEH+) is poorly understood.

Objectives: The primary goal of the current study was to determine whether ADEH+ subjects have identifiable defects in cell-mediated immunity that reduce their ability to control viral infections.

Materials and methods: In this study, we evaluated cytokine expression by various subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from ADEH+ (n = 24) compared with AD without a history of viral infections (ADEH-) (n = 20) before and after treatment with herpes simplex virus (HSV).

Results: We found that interferon (IFN)-γ expression after HSV treatment was lower in the CD8+ T cells and monocytes from patients with ADEH+ compared with patients who are ADEH- or nonatopic. Given the induction of CD8+ T cells as the result of antigen presentation by human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I, consistent with the findings described above we also found that the HLA B7 allele was significantly associated with risk of the ADEH+ phenotype (odds ratio = 1·91, P = 0·02, 125 ADEH+ and 161 ADEH- subjects).

Conclusions: These data suggest that defects in viral-induced IFN-γ from CD8+ T cells contribute to the ADEH+ phenotype.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

The authors state no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Low IFN-γ expression in ADEH+ subjects as assessed by flow cytometry. IFN-γ expression is shown for CD8+ cells (left panel, a) and CD14+ cells (right panel, b) assessed by intracellular staining and flow cytometry as described in Materials and methods. P-values reflect robust ancova comparisons (adjusted for age and mock stimulated value). Horizontal lines represent geometric means. Values represent percentage of IFN-γ+ cells among the parent cell population, i.e. CD8+ IFN-γ+ out of total CD8+ and CD14+ IFN-γ+ out of total CD14+ cells. ADEH, patients with atopic dermatitis with/without a history of eczema herpeticum; IFN, interferon; NA, nonatopic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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