Journal
EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY
Volume 26, Issue 3, Pages 263-269Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/exd.13207
Keywords
chemokine; cytokine; human skin; immune response; tick bite
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01 AI-101175]
- English
- Bonter
- Mitchell Foundation
- Eshe Fund
- Lyme Disease and Arthritis Research Fund at Massachusetts General Hospital
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Little is known about the immunomodulation by tick saliva during a natural tick bite in human skin, the site of the tick-host interaction. We examined the expression of chemokines, cytokines and leucocyte markers on the mRNA levels and histopathologic changes in human skin biopsies of tick bites (n=37) compared to unaffected skin (n=9). Early tick-bite skin lesions (< 24 hours of tick attachment) were characterized by a predominance of macrophages and dendritic cells, elevated mRNA levels of macrophage chemoattractants (CCL2, CCL3, CCL4) and neutrophil chemoattractants (CXCL1, CXCL8), of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-1 beta, and the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-5. In contrast, the numbers of lymphocytes and mRNA levels of lymphocyte cell markers (CD4, CD8, CD19), lymphocyte chemoattractants (CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, CXCL13, CCL1, CCL22), dendritic cell chemoattractants (CCL20), and other pro-(IL-6, IL-12p40, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-10, TGF-beta) did not differ from normal skin. With longer tick attachment (> 24 hours), the numbers of innate immune cells and mediators (not significantly) declined, whereas the numbers of lymphocytes (not significantly) increased. Natural tick bites by Ixodes ricinus ticks initially elicit a strong local innate immune response in human skin. Beyond 24 hours of tick attachment, this response usually becomes less, perhaps because of immunomodulation by tick saliva.
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