The chemotactic activity of T‐lymphocytes in response to interleukin 8 is significantly decreased in patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis

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Abstract
Involvement of T‐lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis is well established. The question arises as to whether not only tissue infiltrating but also circulating T‐lymphocytes are involved in the disease process. Therefore we sought to determine whether T‐lymphocytes from patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis show abnormal biological behavior to the proinflammatory chemokine interleukin 8 (IL‐8) in vitro as studied by their chemotactic activity. In addition, the expression of T‐cell activation markers such as HLA‐DR and interleukin 2 receptor (IL‐2R) were analysed with FACS‐technique. In all, 25 patients with psoriasis (13 patients with severe psoriasis and 12 patients with mild psoriasis) and 11 patients with atopic dermatitis were investigated. For comparison, T‐lymphocytes from 14 healthy controls were tested equally. The results show that T‐cell chemotactic responses to IL‐8 were significantly decreased in patients with severe psoriasis as compared to healthy controls. T‐cells from patients with atopic dermatitis demonstrated an even more pronounced decrease in chemotactic response as compared to T‐cells from psoriasis patients or healthy controls. In contrast, increased expression of activation markers HLA‐DR and IL‐2R were demonstrated in circulating T‐cells from patients with severe psoriasis and atopic dermatitis in comparison to healthy controls. It can be concluded that circulating T‐cells in patients with severe psoriasis and atopic dermatitis show a decreased in vitro chemotactic response to IL‐8. Furthermore, the in vivo phenotypic activation state of T‐lymphocytes in these patients seemed to be associated with their decreased in vitro functional capacity.