Expression Analysis of CCL27 and CCL28 mRNA in Lesional and Non-Lesional Skin of Dogs with Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Chemokines are important regulators of the selective recruitment of inflammatory cells into sites of allergic inflammation. Since canine atopic dermatitis (AD) shares many clinical features of human AD, patterns of chemokine production in dogs may also be similar with those in humans. The aim of this study was to examine mRNA expression of CCL27 and CCL28 in lesional skin of dogs with AD to demonstrate similarity of chemokine production with human counterparts. RNA was extracted from skin biopsy specimens of 12 dogs with AD. The mRNA expression of CC chemokines (CCL4, CCL19, CCL20, CCL21, CCL24, CCL27 and CCL28) was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR and was compared between lesional and non-lesional skin. Seven types of chemokines examined were constitutively expressed in both lesional and non-lesional skin. It was found that mRNA expression levels of CCL27 and CCL28 among the chemokines were significantly different between lesional and non-lesional skin (P<0.05). Expression level of CCL27 mRNA in lesional skin was significantly lower than that in non-lesional skin. On the other hand, CCL28 mRNA expression in lesional skin was found to be higher than that in non-lesional skin. These results suggest that CCL28 but not CCL27 may play important roles in immunopathogenesis of canine AD, indicating that experimental canine study may provide additional information that can be extrapolated to human AD.

Evaluation of cutaneous and circulating (serum and exosomes) levels of chemokines (CCL17, CCL22, CCL27 and CCL28) in atopic dogs and their correlation with severity of the disease

“…These results were confirmed by the present study in which mRNA was detected for three of the four chemokines tested: CCL17, CCL22 and CCL28. It should be noted that in this study lesional skin included erythema and/or papules which is more consistent with acute lesions rather than chronic changes reported previously 7,8 . In addition, mRNA concentrations of CCL22 were significantly higher even in nonlesional atopic skin when compared to healthy skin showing a potential involvement of this chemokine in the early stages of the disease, as recently suggested in atopic human patients 25 …”

IL-4 up-regulates epidermal chemotactic, angiogenic, and pro-inflammatory genes and down-regulates antimicrobial genes in vivo and in vitro: Relevant in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis

“…Although CCL27 is over-expressed in AD lesions [6,49], IL-4 appears to down-regulate it in keratinocytes. Since CCL27 is well known to be regulated by NF-κB [50], the upregulation of CCL27 observed in AD lesions may be caused by proinflammatory cytokines other than IL-4.…”

Immune responses in dogs with cutaneous adverse food reactions

“…In canine skin, CCL28 and CCL17 (TARC) are expressed, and CCR4 is found on canine Th2 cells. The expression of these chemokines and ligands are increased in lesional skin of canine AD (Maeda et al 2002(Maeda et al , 2004(Maeda et al , 2005(Maeda et al , 2008. The presence and the role of CCL17, CCL28 and CCR4 in canine CAFR is not investigated yet.…”