Circulating Conventional and Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Subsets Display Distinct Kinetics during In Vivo Repeated Allergen Skin Challenges in Atopic Subjects
Figure 6
Activin-A is increased in the skin after allergen challenge and correlates with BDCA+ cDCs. Activin-A in the skin was analysed using the alkaline phosphatase-antialkaline phosphatase method (red colour). (a) Activin A in normal skin (diluent site) was minimal and mostly located in a scattered fashion in the basal cells of the epidermis (black arrows) with minimal expression in the dermis (red arrows) (×100). (b) After the first allergen challenge, activin-A was more prominent and intense in the epidermis (black arrows) and in infiltrating inflammatory cells (red arrows) in the dermis (×100), also shown in (c) at higher magnification (×200). (d) Quantification of activin-A+ cells showed significantly higher expression at the allergen site 24 h after the first challenge compared to the diluent site. (e) The numbers of activin-A+ cells correlated with the numbers of BDCA-1+ cDCs in the dermis 24 h after allergen challenge (; ). Data are expressed as median with interquartile range (first and third quartiles). *.
