Is epidermal cell proliferation in psoriatic skin grafts on nude mice driven by T-cell derived cytokines?

Abstract

Plasminogen activity and DNA synthesis by epidermal cells have been reported to be doubled in psoriatic skin grafts compared with grafts of normal skin 6 weeks after transplantation to nude mice. In our study human lymphocytes disappeared from such grafts within 48 h whilst some DR‐positive human dendritic cells were retained in the grafts for up to 4 weeks. However, the grafts were infiltrated by Thy 1.2⁺ mouse lymphocytes within 6 days and this infiltration persisted at a moderate level throughout the observation period. It consisted of perivascular aggregates, scattered dermal and papillary T cells, and some mouse T cells were also found in the epidermal compartment. Grafts of psoriatic and non‐psoriatic control skin were infiltrated to a similar extent, suggesting a low‐grade rejection response against the human xenografts. These findings raise the possibility that psoriatic keratinocytes are responding abnormally to inflammatory cytokines released by mouse lymphocytes reacting against the skin grafts.