Kakinuma Takashi, Sugaya Makoto, Nakamura Koichiro, Kaneko Fumio, Wakugawa Motoshi, Matsushima Kouji, Tamaki Kunihiko
Department of Dermatology, University of Tokyo, Japan.
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2003 Jan;48(1):23-30. doi: 10.1067/mjd.2003.132.
Mycosis fungoides (MF) belongs to cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and is clinically divided into 3 stages: patch, plaque, and tumor stage. Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL17) is a member of the CC chemokines and is a chemoattractant for CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4)- and CC chemokine receptor 8 (CCR8)-expressing cells.
In this study, we examined the involvement of TARC among patients with each stage of MF.
We investigated the expression of TARC, CCR4, and CXC chemokine receptor 3 in patients with each stage of MF by immunohistochemistry. We measured serum TARC levels in 20 patients with MF in varying degrees and compared them with 10 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 10 healthy controls. In addition, we compared serum TARC levels in patients with MF with other laboratory data.
Immunohistochemical staining revealed that TARC was expressed in the lesional keratinocytes in the patch, plaque, and tumor stages. CCR4 was expressed on the epidermotropic cells in both patch and plaque stages and on the large cell-transformed cells in the tumor stage, whereas CXC chemokine receptor 3 was constantly expressed on the small cells in the lesional dermis. Serum TARC levels in patients with MF were significantly higher than those in patients with psoriasis vulgaris or healthy controls. Moreover, serum TARC levels in patients with the tumor stage of MF (n = 5) were remarkably higher than those with patch stage (n = 8) or plaque stage (n = 7). Serum TARC levels significantly correlated with serum lactate dehydrogenase levels (r = 0.62), serum immunoglobulin E levels (r = 0.60), serum soluble interleukin 2 receptor levels (r = 0.72), and serum macrophage-derived chemokine levels (r = 0.70).
These data strongly indicate that serum TARC levels are useful for assessing the disease activity of patients with MF and that TARC and CCR4 may be involved in the pathogenesis of MF.
蕈样肉芽肿（MF）属于皮肤T细胞淋巴瘤，临床上分为3期：斑片期、斑块期和肿瘤期。胸腺和活化调节趋化因子（TARC/CCL17）是CC趋化因子成员，是表达CC趋化因子受体4（CCR4）和CC趋化因子受体8（CCR8）细胞的趋化因子。
在本研究中，我们检测了TARC在MF各期患者中的作用。
我们通过免疫组化研究了TARC、CCR4和CXC趋化因子受体3在MF各期患者中的表达。我们检测了20例不同程度MF患者的血清TARC水平，并与10例寻常型银屑病患者和10例健康对照进行比较。此外，我们还将MF患者的血清TARC水平与其他实验室数据进行了比较。
免疫组化染色显示，TARC在斑片期、斑块期和肿瘤期的皮损角质形成细胞中表达。CCR4在斑片期和斑块期的亲表皮细胞以及肿瘤期的大细胞转化细胞上表达，而CXC趋化因子受体3在皮损真皮层的小细胞上持续表达。MF患者的血清TARC水平显著高于寻常型银屑病患者或健康对照。此外，MF肿瘤期患者（n = 5）的血清TARC水平明显高于斑片期患者（n = 8）或斑块期患者（n = 7）。血清TARC水平与血清乳酸脱氢酶水平（r = 0.62）、血清免疫球蛋白E水平（r = 0.60）、血清可溶性白细胞介素2受体水平（r = 0.72）和血清巨噬细胞衍生趋化因子水平（r = 0.70）显著相关。
这些数据有力地表明，血清TARC水平有助于评估MF患者的疾病活动度，且TARC和CCR4可能参与MF的发病机制。
