Assessment of epidermal dendritic cell markers and T-lymphocytes in XXXX .

@entity1 @entity4896 @entity404 @entity1569
Epidermal dendritic and T-cell counts have been performed in lesional and non-lesional skin from 35 psoriatic @entity1 . The aims were to investigate absolute changes and interrelationships between these cellular elements in @entity1569 and to explain apparent discrepancies between these results and reports in the literature. In non-lesional skin, the most frequently expressed dendritic cell marker was @entity4896 . HLA-DR+ and alpha-mannosidase+ dendritic cells were approximately 50 per cent and S100+ cells were 25 per cent as frequent. T-lymphocytes were rare, @entity404 + cells predominating. In lesional psoriatic epidermis, there was a definite increase (approximately two-fold) in the absolute number of @entity4896 + dendritic cells. This differs from the conclusions from the majority of previous studies. However, when cell counts were expressed per unit area of vertical section, there was a decrease in @entity4896 + cells in lesional skin, which is an explanation for this discrepancy. There was a greater increase in absolute HLA-DR+ cell counts, so that the numbers of cells expressing @entity4896 and HLA-DR were similar in lesional skin. S100 expression increased proportionately with @entity4896 +, but there was no absolute increase in alpha-mannosidase+ cells, which might represent a separate sub-population of dendritic cells. The greatest cellular increase was in T-lymphocytes, particularly CD8+. In lesional skin, direct correlations have been demonstrated between epidermal thickness, HLA-DR+ dendritic cells and T-lymphocytes, particularly CD8+ cells. We would suggest that the present method of quantification is of value for the analysis of absolute changes in epidermal infiltrates, particularly @entity1569 , and could be applied to other epidermal pathologies.
