Heufler C, Topar G, Grasseger A, Stanzl U, Koch F, Romani N, Namen A E, Schuler G
Department of Dermatology, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
J Exp Med. 1993 Sep 1;178(3):1109-14. doi: 10.1084/jem.178.3.1109.
Interleukin 7 (IL-7) was originally identified as a growth factor for B cell progenitors, and subsequently has been shown to exert proliferative effects on T cell progenitors and mature peripheral T cells as well. Constitutive IL-7 mRNA expression so far had been demonstrated in bone marrow stromal cell lines, thymus, spleen, and among nonlymphoid tissues in liver and kidney. Here we show that both murine and human keratinocytes express IL-7 mRNA and release IL-7 protein in biologically relevant amounts. The physiological or pathological relevance of keratinocyte-derived IL-7 is presently unknown. Our finding that keratinocytes can produce IL-7 in concert with reports that IL-7 is a growth factor for in vivo primed antigen-specific T cells, as well as for T lymphoma cells suggests, however, that keratinocyte-derived IL-7 is important in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases and cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
白细胞介素7（IL-7）最初被鉴定为B细胞祖细胞的生长因子，随后也被证明对T细胞祖细胞和成熟外周T细胞具有增殖作用。迄今为止，已在骨髓基质细胞系、胸腺、脾脏以及肝脏和肾脏的非淋巴组织中证实有组成型IL-7 mRNA表达。在此我们表明，小鼠和人类角质形成细胞均表达IL-7 mRNA并释放具有生物学相关量的IL-7蛋白。目前尚不清楚角质形成细胞衍生的IL-7的生理或病理相关性。然而，我们发现角质形成细胞能够产生IL-7，同时有报道称IL-7是体内致敏抗原特异性T细胞以及T淋巴瘤细胞的生长因子，这表明角质形成细胞衍生的IL-7在炎症性皮肤病和皮肤T细胞淋巴瘤的发病机制中很重要。
