The skin immune system: progress in cutaneous biology.

The skin is an active, and in many ways unique, immunological microenvironment quite different from the other primary interfaces between the body and the environment (namely the mucosae). Here Jan D. Bos and Martien L. Kapsenberg identify the components of the skin immune system and describe the inflammatory and immunological responses that they can mount. New findings with regard to the immunophysiology and physiopathology of the human integument are emphasized.