Expression of allograft inflammatory factor-1 in inflammatory skin disorders.

Christina Orsmark, Tiina Skoog, Leila Jeskanen, Juha Kere, Ulpu Saarialho-Kere

Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. christina.orsmark@biosci.ki.se

Acta dermato-venereologica 2007

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Allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1) is an evolutionarily conserved, inflammatory protein produced by activated macrophages during chronic transplant rejection and in inflammatory brain lesions. Since T-cell-mediated inflammation is common to various dermatoses and nothing is known about AIF-1 in skin, we studied its protein expression at the tissue level and regulation in monocytic cell lines by various agents. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that AIF-1 is expressed at low levels in normal skin, but is highly upregulated in various inflammatory skin disorders, such as psoriasis, lichen planus, graft-versus-host disease and mycosis fungoides. The main cell types expressing AIF-1 in affected skin are macrophages and Langerhans' cells. We also show by real-time PCR that AIF-1 mRNA levels in monocytic THP-1 and U937 cell lines are significantly upregulated by retinoic acid as well as a number of cytokines. We conclude that AIF-1 may mediate survival and pro-inflammatory properties of macrophages in skin diseases.

Citation

Christina Orsmark, Tiina Skoog, Leila Jeskanen, Juha Kere, Ulpu Saarialho-Kere. Expression of allograft inflammatory factor-1 in inflammatory skin disorders. Acta dermato-venereologica. 2007;87(3):223-7