Department of Dermatology, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Allergy. 2011 Aug;66(8):1107-13. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2011.02570.x. Epub 2011 Mar 4.
Basophils are blood leukocytes constituting less than 1% of leukocytes. They share morphological and functional similarities with mast cells, but recent studies indicate that basophils play non-redundant roles via the release of several cytokines and lipid mediators, as well as functioning as antigen presenting cells. However, basophil infiltration into the tissues in human skin diseases remains to be addressed.
The infiltration of basophils in 24 skin diseases (136 samples) was immunohistochemically analyzed using basophil-specific BB1 antibody. In addition, activation of blood basophils was examined by assessing CD203c expression with flow cytometry.
Basophils were detected in skin lesions of atopic dermatitis, prurigo, urticaria, bullous pemphigoid, drug eruptions, eosinophilic pustular folliculitis, insect bites, scabies, Henoch-Schönlein purpura and dermatomyositis. While cell densities in urticaria, bullous pemphigoid and eosinophilic pustular folliculitis were prominent, much lower numbers of basophils were seen in lesional skin of atopic dermatitis. Basophils were entirely absent in psoriasis vulgaris, mastocytosis, tumoral lesions, systemic sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Levels of CD203c expression on blood basophils from prurigo and urticaria patients were higher than those from healthy donors.
Basophils infiltrate into skin lesions more commonly than previously thought, and thus they may play important roles in a variety of inflammatory skin diseases.
嗜碱性粒细胞是构成白细胞不到 1%的血液白细胞。它们与肥大细胞在形态和功能上具有相似性，但最近的研究表明，嗜碱性粒细胞通过释放几种细胞因子和脂质介质以及作为抗原提呈细胞发挥非冗余作用。然而，嗜碱性粒细胞在人类皮肤疾病中的组织浸润仍有待解决。
使用嗜碱性粒细胞特异性 BB1 抗体通过免疫组织化学分析 24 种皮肤疾病（136 个样本）中的嗜碱性粒细胞浸润。此外，通过流式细胞术评估 CD203c 表达来检查血液嗜碱性粒细胞的活化。
在特应性皮炎、瘙痒症、荨麻疹、大疱性类天疱疮、药物反应、嗜酸性脓疱性毛囊炎、昆虫叮咬、疥疮、过敏性紫癜和皮肌炎的皮肤病变中检测到嗜碱性粒细胞。虽然荨麻疹、大疱性类天疱疮和嗜酸性脓疱性毛囊炎中的细胞密度明显，但特应性皮炎皮损中的嗜碱性粒细胞数量要少得多。寻常型银屑病、肥大细胞增多症、肿瘤病变、系统性硬化症和系统性红斑狼疮中嗜碱性粒细胞完全不存在。瘙痒症和荨麻疹患者的血液嗜碱性粒细胞上 CD203c 表达水平高于健康供体。
嗜碱性粒细胞比以前认为的更常浸润皮肤病变，因此它们可能在多种炎症性皮肤疾病中发挥重要作用。
