Final Activity and Management Report Summary - SKIN IMMUNITY (Role of skin dendritic cells in stimulating immune responses initiated in skin)
The most important scientific achievements made showed the role for E-selectin ligand in the migration of skin-antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells into the skin. Humans who suffer from allergic skin diseases have a disease that is mediated by T cells, which through their effector function cause the disease. We have been able to show that the migration of activated antigen-specific T cells is regulated by expression of a skin homing marker, E-selectin ligand. Only when extra scratching was applied, T cells migrated into skin. In absence of this scratching, pathology did not ensue.