Yamamoto T, Katayama I, Nishioka K
Department of Dermatology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Dermatology. 1998;197(2):109-14. doi: 10.1159/000017979.
Mast cells are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc), although their significance is still unknown. As mast cells are increased in number in the lesional skin of the early stage of scleroderma, we addressed the question whether expression of stem cell factor (SCF), a mast cell growth factor, is upregulated in the lesional skin.
Immunohistochemical analysis of SCF was performed in paraffin-embedded skin sections from the lesions of 18 patients with SSc (13 in the edematous and 5 in the sclerotic phase) and from normal skin of 5 subjects. SCF messenger RNA expression was also examined on cultured fibroblasts derived from SSc by using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
Immunostaining showed focal expression for SCF in fibroblast-like spindle-shaped cells, mast cells, keratinocytes and endothelial cells. SCF-positive spindle-shaped cells were significantly increased in the reticular dermis in the early edematous stage of SSc (33.7 +/- 13.0/mm2) as compared with normal skin (18.3 +/- 4. 2/mm2; p <0.05); however, there was no significant difference between the sclerotic phase (18.9 +/- 6.9/mm2) and normal skin. mRNA expression of SCF was detected both in cultured scleroderma-derived and normal skin-derived fibroblasts.
These results may suggest that SCF plays a role in the fibrotic process in early-stage SSc.
尽管肥大细胞在系统性硬化症（SSc）发病机制中的重要性尚不清楚，但一般认为其发挥着重要作用。由于在硬皮病早期病变皮肤中肥大细胞数量增加，我们探讨了肥大细胞生长因子干细胞因子（SCF）在病变皮肤中表达是否上调这一问题。
对18例SSc患者（13例处于水肿期，5例处于硬化期）病变部位及5名受试者正常皮肤的石蜡包埋皮肤切片进行SCF免疫组织化学分析。还通过逆转录聚合酶链反应检测了SSc来源的培养成纤维细胞中SCF信使核糖核酸的表达。
免疫染色显示，在成纤维细胞样梭形细胞、肥大细胞、角质形成细胞和内皮细胞中SCF呈局灶性表达。与正常皮肤（18.3±4.2/mm²）相比，SSc早期水肿期网状真皮中SCF阳性梭形细胞显著增加（33.7±13.0/mm²；p<0.05）；然而，硬化期（18.9±6.9/mm²）与正常皮肤之间无显著差异。在SSc来源和正常皮肤来源的培养成纤维细胞中均检测到SCF的信使核糖核酸表达。
这些结果可能提示SCF在SSc早期纤维化过程中发挥作用。
