Abstract
BackgroundCanine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a common chronic and pruritic skin disease in dogs. The development of cAD involves complex interactions between environmental antigens, genetic predisposition and a number of disparate cell types. The aim of the present study was to perform comprehensive analyses of peripheral blood of AD dogs in relation to healthy subjects in order to determine the changes which would be characteristic for cAD.ResultsThe number of cells in specific subpopulations of lymphocytes was analyzed by flow cytometry, concentration of chosen pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, TNF-α, TGF-β1) was determined by ELISA; and microarray analysis was performed on RNA samples isolated from peripheral blood nuclear cells of AD and healthy dogs. The number of Th cells (CD3+CD4+) in AD and healthy dogs was similar, whereas the percentage of Tc (CD3+CD8+) and Treg (CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+) cells increased significantly in AD dogs. Increased concentrations of IL-13 and TNF-α, and decreased levels of IL-10 and TGF-β1 was observed in AD dogs. The level of IL-4 was similar in both groups of animals. Results of the microarray experiment revealed differentially expressed genes involved in transcriptional regulation (e.g., transcription factors: SMAD2, RORA) or signal transduction pathways (e.g., VEGF, SHB21, PROC) taking part in T lymphocytes lineages differentiation and cytokines synthesis.ConclusionsResults obtained indicate that CD8+ T cells, beside CD4+ T lymphocytes, contribute to the development of the allergic response. Increased IL-13 concentration in AD dogs suggests that this cytokine may play more important role than IL-4 in mediating changes induced by allergic inflammation. Furthermore, observed increase in Treg cells in parallel with high concentrations of TNF-α and low levels of IL-10 and TGF-β1 in the peripheral blood of AD dogs point at the functional insufficiency of Treg cells in patients with AD.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-016-0805-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Canine atopic dermatitis is a common chronic and pruritic skin disease in dogs
Our study demonstrated that the percentage of circulating CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+ cells in atopic dogs was significantly higher compared to healthy dogs, and these results were similar to recent data of other research groups [28, 29]
In the present study dogs with atopic dermatitis showed increased number of CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood, which may suggest that in addition to the commonly accepted role of the imbalance between Th1 and T-helper 2 (Th2) cells in the immune response during AD, T cytotoxic (Tc) lymphocytes may significantly contribute to the development of the immunoinflammatory response
Summary
Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a common chronic and pruritic skin disease in dogs. The development of cAD involves complex interactions between environmental antigens, genetic predisposition and a number of disparate cell types. Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory and pruritic skin disease which affects 10 % of canine population. This disease is one of the most prevalent skin diseases in dogs, with characteristic clinical features most commonly associated with IgEmediated hypersensitivity to environmental allergens. Some studies indicate that CD8+ T cells may contribute to development of human AD skin lesion, because they infiltrate to the skin very early, prior other leukocyte subsets [8].
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