Mallon E, Powell S, Mortimer P, Ryan T J
Department of Dermatology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, U.K.
Br J Dermatol. 1997 Dec;137(6):928-33.
Patients with chronic lymphoedema are prone to develop chronic infections and various tumours in the lymphoedematous limb, suggesting that regional immune surveillance is impaired. To test the hypothesis that cutaneous cell-mediated immunity is impaired, 35 women with postmastectomy lymphoedema were investigated using dinitrochlorobenzene to test the afferent and efferent loops of the allergic contact immune response. The results support the role of lymphatics as an important component of the immune response to allergens by the demonstration of impairment of both the afferent and efferent loops of the allergic contact dermatitis reaction, and confirm that there is suppression of immune competence in a lymphoedematous limb.
慢性淋巴水肿患者容易在淋巴水肿的肢体上发生慢性感染和各种肿瘤，这表明局部免疫监视功能受损。为了验证皮肤细胞介导的免疫功能受损这一假说，对35名乳房切除术后淋巴水肿的女性进行了研究，使用二硝基氯苯来检测变应性接触免疫反应的传入和传出环节。结果通过证明变应性接触性皮炎反应的传入和传出环节均受损，支持了淋巴管作为对过敏原免疫反应重要组成部分的作用，并证实淋巴水肿肢体存在免疫能力抑制。
