Effect of Spa Spring Water on Cytokine Expression in Human Keratinocyte HaCaT Cells and on Differentiation of CD4+ T Cells

BACKGROUND: Skin acts as the first line of defense against any foreign materials outside of our body. In inflammatory skin disease, the pathogenesis is due to an immune reaction in the keratinocytes, immune cells and soluble mediators. Balneotherapy is widely used for the treatment of inflammatory skin disease, but the mechanisms are only partly understood by immune regulation. Balneotherapy in dermatologic disease can affect the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1alpha and tumor necrosis factor from keratinocytes, and possibly affect the T cell differentiation. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we evaluated the effect of spa spring water from Yong-gung oncheon on the cells, and investigated the skin immune reaction. METHODS: We investigated the immunomodulatory or anti-inflammatory effect of thermal spring water on the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the HaCaT cells under Toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulation, as well as the effect on the differentiation of CD4+ T cells under spring water. RESULTS: The treatment of spa spring water from Yong-gung oncheon decreased the expression of proinflammatory cytokines under TLR stimulation to the HaCaT cells and antigen presenting cells. In addition, spa spring water attenuated the differentiation process of subsets of CD4+ T cells, i.e., Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells. All these immune parameters can be used to evaluate the efficacy of spa spring water in Korea, in terms of the immune modulatory effect. CONCLUSION: Spa spring water treatment suppressed the inflammatory cytokines production and also modulated the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, but not the Tregs cells.

Spontaneous expression of mRNA for IL - 10, GM - CSF and TNF - alpha in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with atopic dermatitis / 천식및알레르기

BACKGROUND: Monocytes and T helper cells play major roles in the immunologic dysfunction of atopic dermatitis (AD). Many studies have been done on the cytokine pattern to evaluate abnormalities or differences of immune cells in AD, but the results were conflicting among studies and most of these previous reports were performed with various kinds of mitogen-stimulation. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate spontaneous cytokine pattern in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with AD. We focused on the expression of monokines that had effects on monocytes and T cells. METHODS: We measured mRNA expression of IL-10, GM-CSF and TNF-alpha in freshly isolated PBMC with semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The intensity of cytokine cDNA was normalized to that of beta-actin product as a standard marker. RESULTS: IL-10 mRNA expression was significantly enhanced in AD compared:with control subjects (p<0.05). Spontaneous mRNA expression of TNF-alpha was significantly lower in AD patients (p <0.01). The level of GM-CSF mRNA expression was heterogeneous and spontaneous mRNA expression was slightly increased in AD although the difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Our data was able to represent in vivo cytokine expression state of PBMC in atopic dermatitis. Increased expression of IL-10 and GM-CSF may have been associated with monocyte dysfunction in AD although increase in the expression of GM-CSF mRNA was not statistically significant. TNF-alpha mRNA expression was decreased in AD and increased IL-10 was suggested to exert an inhibitory effect on the expression of TNF-alpha mRNA.

Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus

Neonatal lupus erytematosus is a distinct subset of lupus erythematosus. It is characterized by cutaneous findings exhibiting the morphology of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus, congenital heart block, and anti-Ro/SSA and/or anti-La/SSB autoantibodies which result from the transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies. We report a case of a 12-week-old female infant who presented with characteristic clinical and histopathological features of cutaneous neonatal lupus erythematosus but without evidence of congenital heart block. Initial serological studies reveled the presence of anti-La/SSB anti-bodies and antinuclear antibodies. 5 months later, follow-up serology was negative in accordance with a clinical remission.

Two Cases of Phthiriasis Occurring on Unusual Sites / 대한피부과학회지

The pubic louse, Pthirus pubis is a blood-sucking ectoparasite adapted to hold onto pubic, axillary and body hairs. It is usually confined to the pubic and inguinal region. However, it may also rarely involve the scalp and eyelashes. We report two cases of phthiriasis occurring on unusual sites, the first case occurring on the scalp of a 5 month-old male infant, and the second case on the eyelashes of a 49-year-old fe-male.

A comparison study of Pharmacia CAP system, fluoroallergosorbent test and radioimmunoassay for serum lgE and eosinophil cationic protein measurement / 알레르기

Results from two in vitro assays, Pharmacia CAP system(CAP) and fluoroallergosorbent test(FAST), for detecting serum specific IgE to three allergens, mugwort, Derraatophagoides pteronyssinus, and eat epithelium, were compared with skin prick test(SPT) results in 53 atopie dermatitis patients with positive SPT and 25 non-atopic controls. Using SPT results as the reference standards, CAP achieved higher sensitivity than FAST in determination of three allergens. CAP for measuring total IgE and eosinophil cationic protein(ECP) was also compared with FAST and ECP radioimmunoassay(RIA), respectively. In comparison of two assays for total serum IgE, the values obtained with CAP were significantly higher than those with FAST. In comparison of CAP and RIA for measuring ECP, the values obrained with CAP were significantly higher than those with RIA and the differences between ECP values of two assays were significant in high ECP group(>8.3 micro gram/1). These results suggest that CAP is the preferred test and seems to be more appropriate method for detection of specific IgE and ECP in patients with allergic digeases.

Two Cases of Soft Fibroma Developing Subepidermal Blister / 대한피부과학회지

We report a 34-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl who had a soft fibroma with blister on the thigh and on the back, respectively. Histopathologically, in the biopsy of both tumors, a subepidermal blister overlying the tumor and the degeneration of the epidermis were observed without any evidence of dermal degeneration. The major cause of the blister formation seems to be ischemia due to twisting or compression of the neck of the soft fibroma.

A Case of Giant Cell Tumor of the Tendon Sheath Developing on the Dorsum of the Foot / 대한피부과학회지

We report a case of giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath involving the foot, in a 21-year-old female patient, who presented with an asymptomatic tumor on the dorsum of her right foot. Histopathologically the tumor is surrounded by thin fibrous connective tissue. The characteristic findings of the excised specimen revealed a typical mixture of abundunt round or polygonal histocyte-like cells with varying portions of spindle-shaped fibroblast-like cells and multinucleated giant cells. Variable amounts of hyalinized fibrous stromal tissue were also present. After excision, local recurrence has not been observed for 3 months.

Clinical efficacy of thymomodulin on neutropenia induced by chemotherapy in the patients with gynecologic cancer / 대한암학회지

No abstract available.