EFFECTS OF DERMATOPHYTE FUNGI ON EPIDERMAL DENDRITIC CELLS

BURSTEIN V. L., MASIH D. T., CHIAPELLO L

Los Cocos

Otro; First Argentinean Spring Course in Advanced Immunology ? ASCAI 2013; 2013

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología

Dermatophyte fungi invade epidermis causing cutaneous mycosis. The effects of dermatophytes on the activation of skin dendritic cells (DC) as well as the impact on specific antifungal immunity remain unknown. Langerhans cells (LC) are the only DC in the epidermis (MHC-II+, CD207+) and represent 1-5% of this skin layer. Although they are thought to be immune sentinels of the skin, their immunogenic role has been questioned lately. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of dermatophytes (M. canis and T. rubrum) on the activation of epidermal cells and specifically LC, and to evaluate the T cell phenotype generated after the LC-dermatophyte interaction. We worked with a mature epidermal dendritic cell line XS106 and total epidermal cells or LC from BALB/c mice ears. We demonstrated that dermatophytes stimulate XS106 activation towards a proinflammatory profile and promote an allogenic response of lymphocytes with a Th1 phenotype. On the other hand, we studied epidermal cells from BALB/c mice ears (total epidermal cell suspensions or migratory epidermal cells) and we observed between 2 - 8 % of MCH-II+ cells. In particular, we observed that cultures with M. canis induce an IL-6 production by epidermal cells and an increase in the percentage and MFI of MCH-II+ population. So far, our results have demonstrated that M. canis and T. rubrum modulate the epidermis microenvironment and XS106 activation in vitro.